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THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
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KANSAS
A Cyclopedia of State History, Emliracing Events,
Institutions, Inaustries, Counties, Cities,
Towns, Prominent Persons, Etc.
SUPPLEMENTARY VOLUME OF PERSONAL HISTORY
AND REMINISCENCE
WITH PORTRAITS
STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO
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IISTDEX
Adams, Dr. Franklin S 443
Alexa, John M 331
Alford, William C 299
Anderson, Roland ^lax 342
Anderson, Perry 558
Armstrong, Elvvood, M. D 403
Atwater, John W 312
Auld, John B 422
Avery, Henry 410
Baker, Addison 240
Baker, Charles Edgar 125
Ballard. Alonzo 430
Bartleson, John W 86
Baxter, Marble Lane 1 54
Bean, Charles M 192
Beckner, George L 412
IJennett, Edgar 485
I'.enton, Otis L 79
1 tallard, David Ellenwood 407
I'.itler, William Sawyer 522
Blake, Albert E 588
Blue, Henry AI 579
Blume, A. C 85
Blocher, Jacob 446
Bonham, Glenn Irvin 517
Braden, William H 160
B>rady, Dr. John J 418
Braddock, James Thomas 520
lirandenberg, William Aaron 191
Breeding, Walter Raleigh, AI. D 500
Ijrewer, David J 31
Brice. Owen A 352
Brodrick, Harry M 472
Brown, John Q 249
lirown, I'^merald E 576
Burke, Richard H 291
Burnette, Howard R 236
Burns, Lewis C 269
Burns, Joseph AT 268
1\ INDEX
Burton. Tolin M 62
Bussell. belbert J 34©
Calvert. George Lee i^^
Campbell, Altes II .^U
Campbell. James \\'a.sliins:ton 2S9
Campbell. James H 286
Cam])bell, Alexander 15 475
Cam])bell. Floyd Robert 127
Campbell. James A\' 4-
Capper. Arthur 63
Carpenter. Arthur A I5'5
Carson. Caleb W 224
Caster. Herbert O log
Chambers. John 525
Chapman. Henry W 132
Chevraux, Richard Pierre 299
Christian. Robert O., M. D 263
Clarke, Charles W 484
Clements, Milton Higg'ins 295
Clemens, Ira 112
Coburn, Foster Dwight 20
Coffman, Treadwell C 437
Cole. Charles M 141
Coleman. Walter Allen 271
Coleman, David 270
Collelmo, U. A. D., M. D 232
Connelly, John Robert 108
Cosby. Merit M 193
Coslett. Isaac 248
Cowie. James. Jr 99
Cowie. James 98
Crandall, George B 53
Crawford, Robert M 601
Creech, John Worth 432
Crosby, Josiah 91
Cumpton. John A r62
Cummings, C. E 463
Curran, John P 163
Curran, Thomas J 2n
Curran. Hon. .\ndrevv J 242
Darby, Philip 4:^3
Darby. Asa Ray ^qg
Darlington, John W.. M. D 280
Davis. Jeptha H 25 1
INDEX V
Davis, Alexander G 4i
Dawson, Benoni J 301
Dean, Edward M 608
Delaney, Michael 480
Delaney, George 502
DeLair, Sidney A 121
Dcnman, Frank B 353
Dcnney, David B I45
Denison, Charles S 170
Dieter, John G 53^
Dillon, Alfred C., M. D 359
Dillon, Asa Brade 361
Dingman, Dr. Wilson S 524
Dorsey, John J 151
Dorsey, Robert A 153
Downs, Thomas P 336
Drake, Aaron Sampson 220
Elder, John S 89
Elledge, Lycurgus L 313
Elliott, John L 581
Ellison, Isaac B 577
Ellsworth, James 56
Evans, John N 594
Evans, Thomas Davis 532
Evans, Charles Clark 104
Everitt, Charles C 204
Farrell, George J 37
I'eather, William Henry 3f>3
Ferguson, Thomas T 543
Fil:e, James Xelson 327
Finley, John L 30
Fipps, Alonzo J 320
Foster, Eli G 597
Foster, Frank Sharon 94
Fox, George G 284
Fox. Edward B 395
Fox, William Harrison 148
Fox, Henry F 148
Fuest, Joseph F 591
Fulton, John Gilmore 228
Fraker, Emory T 381
Garlinghouse, Orestes L., M. D 262
Gaunt, Fernando Wood 47
Geiger, A. C. T loi
VI INDEX
Georq;c. Emmet D 3"
Gibson, J. Albert • 237
Gibson, Abraham W 614
Gillette, William P 355
Gilliland. William Albert 260
Gilman, George 543
Gould, George 287
Graham, Alvah J 226
Gramme, Julius C 4^5
Guild, William R 304
Hall, Charles Edwin 102
Hamilton, Stephen H 518
Hamm, Rev. R. P 274
Henshall, Edgar Owen, M. D 354
Harbaugh, Joseph E 142
Harbison, Weslie 34i
Harden, Charles E 146
Harrison, Latham E 90
Hawes, Charles W 45^
Hawk, David C 319
Haws, Samuel 414
Hawley. Joseph E., M. D 32
Hazen, Albert 432
Hepler, Edwin Lee 184
Helton, George H 123
Hemphill, Thomas W 396
Hensley, Joseph 1 1 1
Herington, Monroe Davis 376
Herrick, James F 619
Hcwett, Sheldon B., ]\L D 133
Hickok, Charles D 612
Hill, Ed. C 38
Hindman. Joseph H., ^L D 264'
Hinkle, Fred 196
Hinshaw, Thomas D 466
Hitz, C 177
Hobart, Frank „ 346
Hnbbs. Dr. William X 550
Hogue, Clinton 485
Hohn, August ^71
Hoisington, Roy A 538
Holmbcrg. Andrew H 398
Horn, Dr. Matthaus H 478
Hudson, James Samuel 218
INDEX VII
' H nghs. Samuel H 200
11 unter, John W " 620
Hunter, John Davis 231
Hurd. \V. J 2TJ
Hurd, Robert J 278
Hutchinson, Perry 50
Hutchinson, Wilber L 305
Hyland, James R 490
Ingalls, John James 35
Jackson, William Vonneida 195
Jeffries, John A 569
Johnson, George 356
Johnson, David C 526
Johnson. Perry A 122
Johnson, William D 459
Johnson, James Wesley 501
Jellison, Arthur Dale 95
Jones, Thomas R 139
Kackley, L. B., M. D 137
Kagey, Charles L 345
Kehoe, Peter 369
Keller, Adam P. 180
Kcll\'. John 622
Kelly, Hon. George 609
Kennedy, James 565
Kennedy, Henry \<a2
Kenney. C. S 57
Kerschen, \ichoIas S 560
Kimmel. Samuel L 290
Kimple, William Henry 135
King, Charles Lincoln 244
Klaner, J. !•" 233
Klaumann, I icrman 257
Kneciu, William Henry 189
Knight, John Jones 106
Koester. Charles F .' 508
Koster, Frederick 100
Knmm, Harrv P>rent 192
Kumm, Louis 176
Kurz, Jacob .' . . 120
Lackey, Squire Hazen t68
Ladd. Ole E 5^8
Lake, Riley 294
Landis, Charles W 348
Mil INDEX
Lanyon, Edwin \* i^7
Larkin, Arthur 9*^
I.arrick, Sevwood 59
LaShelle. Dr. Charles 49>
Laury, John \\'esley 296
Lees.' Dr. John \\' 487
r.ee. John 1 216
LeGrande. Benjamin 3.^4
Leonard. J. T 152
Lewis. J. Claude I97
Lightner. John Adams 227
Lindburg. John R 1/4
Lindley, Nathan 241
Linscott. George S ~7-
Little. William Cutter 2.t
Longley. Sylvanus. S 392
Lynch, Austin B 606
^IcChesnej', Leander 476
McClintock. John C. :\L D 5S9
McColloch. Robert P 307
McConnell. Edgar B 598
McCoy, Frank A 599
!McGhee. James ^^' 331
McGinley. Patrick J 173
McGregor. Alexander 390
McGrew. Milton Smyth, M. D 268
Mclntire. Davis T 136
McKee. Leonard V 457
McKown. Emery Howard 116
Mackey. Richard Fairfax 13O
MacLennan. Frank Pitts 48
Macy. Frederick S 39
Magruder. Harry W 583
Malcolm. George R 181
^fann. Joseph 316
Markiiam. Harvev :>09
Marshall. John 375
Mason. Walt 323
^^arti^. George W 34c)
Martin. John 308
^Lirtlens. John G 274
Marty. John Jacob _ji6
^[artindale. Howard F c;So
Matthews. James E 298
INDEX
IX
May, W. j -75
Mead, Anson G ^^^
AFeek, James ^ "
Messing. I'.ertrand Delman ^^^
Mevn. Fred A ■+'^9
Miers, Edward ]\I., M. D ?o5
Mitchell. William H -^21
Miller, Ellis 300
Miller. Xoah E ^^'^
Mueller, Henry M 529
Mueller, T. H. Edward 52»
Mueller. Charles J 5io
Milligan. J. A., M. D 282
Mulvane. John R 5»o
Murphv. ilontraville -°7
Moberg. Arthur. M. D 10°
Montee. Dr. Charles F '^3
Montee. James W ]^^
Moore. James M., M. D 533
Moore. William M 292
Moore, Lee E 5^^
Moore. John '
Morton. John R ~"^3
I^Iorrison. Henry R ^^4
Morrison, James ^'4
Morrow, James Calvin 44°
Nester, Michael 5o2
Nichols. Roscoe T 5^^*^
Nordstrom. John W 574
Nork, Axel A 44i
O'Brien. Daniel S.. M. D 345
O'Laughlin. John -'^5
Oliver," Francois. Sr., 3' '
Olson. Charles H ^5^
Osborn, Toll" H "55
Osterhold, Samuel T 281
Olt, Frederick 523
Page, C. G 5«
Parker, Lester M 45
Parker, Schuvler R 4^0
P.nrker, D. 6 37«
Pancoasl, Benjamin F ~^^
I'nttersnn, Moses G 544
Paulcv, Rolev S 559
X INDEX
Pavne, Edward Bell, M. D 230
Pearl. F. M 253
Peckham. John \V 17 -
Peffer, 'riiomas Clayton 515
Perdue, \\illiam Channing 344
Peterson. John E 49^
Petterson, Herman Lesley 338
Pettijohn. William R 267
Pettijohn. Johnson \\'., M. D 266
Phillips, Lewis H iji
Pierson. John J 206
Pike. Lossen Green 1 43
Pike, Nathan E i49
Pingry, Carl Oscar 169
Pine. Robert Harvey i .=i9
Piper. Dorus H., M. D 530
Piper. Hugh 279
Plumb. Preston B 364
Poore. John 535
Pomeroy, Franklin Clark 252
Potter. William A 499
Porter. Hon. Ebenezer F 234
Powell, Samuel T 557
Puckey, Walter 427
Punteney. Eli M 496
Price, Wilson C 541
Raines. V. C 324
Raines. J. 1 324
Reed. Howard 423
Reitzel. Milford 489
Rhodes, Theodore F 436
Richmond. Jesse P 571-
Robson. R., M. D 276
Robinson. Hardy C 428
Robinson, Sara Tappan Doolittle 23
Robinson. Charles 17
Rodgers. Isaac Kirby 153
Rogers, James L 211
Roche, David ". 380
Roche, A\'illiam Thomas 379
Rowland. Claude 158
Russ. Russell S 144
Rust. Robert 1 482
Ryan. William H 208
INDEX XI
Sanders, William Peaiiey 1 19
Sanborn, Make P 371
Schaeffer, Oscar Weimer 186
Scliilling, Jacob G 318
Scbmitt, Paul N' 562
Scholz, Robert G 414
Schilling, Capt. John 317
Scott, Ralph Warren 238
Scott, Dempster 81
Seacat, Porter 147
Seaton, John 615
Seelye, Alfred Barns 402
Seelye, John Mason 400
Sexton, Francis M 464
Shaw, George C 507
Sherman, Charles W 243
Shibley, Robert Y 512
Shiffler, Clinton R 179
Short, J. T 68
Shultz, George J 468
Simpson, Samuel S 578
Skourup, Xis H 190
Slade, Orien L 470
Sloan, Edward R 313
Smith, Solomon A 223
Smith, William H 506
Smith, Dr. Henry D 492
Smith, Robert 1 607
Smith, George S., M. D 593
Snyder, \\'illiam E 157
Snyder, Daniel 115
Soper, Stanley Livingstone 493
Solt, Clarence 1 388
Solt, L. C ." 387
Solt, Mclancthon 368
Stanley, William Eugene 71
Stark. John W 216
Stevenson, Myron G 131
Stewart, Capt. Samuel J 264
Stidham, James Emmett 33
Stol])e, Gustavas 536
Stoufer. .Abe K 582
Strong, James G 573
Sughrue, Michael 201
XII INDEX
Swenson. Eric H 6i6
Taylor, J. Luther i^^S
Taylor, Joseph P 1^4
Tholen. John Herman 284
Thomann. Frank 55-
Thompson, James \\" 473
Thompson, James A 455
Thompson. M. A 3^4
Thisler, Otis L 38-^
Tibbetts, Charles C 445
Tibbetts, Livv B 444
Tilley, J. J.. .'. 564
Tilton, Stuart E 540
Todd, John E 222
Towner, Benjamin Ulysses 205
Towner, Calvin Clermont 126
Travis, Frank L 310
Tremble, George T 93
Trigg, Thomas E 547
Travers, John L 358
Tucker, John W 367
Tudor, Herbert O : 316
Turkington, J. D 117
Turner, Guy E 215
\''ance, Hugh \V 167
Van Wey, Arthur 229
Veatch, John J 419
Vicory, Freeman 623
\\'aggener. Balie P 602
Walker, Andrew Dunham 24s
Walker, David B 566
Wallingford. Webster N 217
Wallingford. Charles Augustine 221
Wallingford. Samuel P 221
Ward, C. W 61
W^askey, Thomas P . . 182
Wasser, Elias Albert 149
Watson, Capt. ^^■illiam J 128
Wayde, John M 164
Wayland, Julius Augustus 113
Waynant, Frank 479
Webb. Herbert M., ^f. D '. ' 26^5
Webster, William H 335
Webster, John 35^
INDEX XIII
Wells, Charles W 362
Welsh, Charles Robert 509
Wheeler. Frederick B 1 72
Wheeler, James A 3 ' 5
Whitehair, Joseph A 373
Wicks, Wallace W 5/6
\\ieters. William : 503
Williams, Mark H 439
Williams, Walter 5^8
Williams, Henry 322
Willington, Edward Winslow 69
Wilson, Walter Everett 521
Woods, Ollie McClure 618
Woodward, Earl Cool 39i
Young, P. C 440
Young, Odus G 203
BIOORi^PHICiVL
Charles Robinson, the first governor of the State of Kansas, was
born at Hardwick, Mass., July 21, 1818. He was descended from sturdy
New England stock, the son of Jonathan and Huldah (Woodward)
Robinson. His father was a direct descendant of the John Robinson
of Plymouth Rock fame, and was a farmer and zealous anti-slavery
man. His mother came of an old New England family not prominent
in the record, but not less to be honored. The parents were of decided
religious views, and desired to give their ten children as good an edu-
cation as was possible in New England at that time. In the private
schools near his parental farm home, Charles Robinson first attended
school, and at the age of seventeen he was sent to Hadley Academy,
a year later to Amherst Academy, thence to Amherst College. At the
age of seventeen he was thrown upon his own resources owing to
the large family of his not well-to-do parents, and while pursuing his
studies he taught three terms of winter schools and otherwise employed
his time when not in the school room toward earning funds whert-
with to defray the expenses of his education. After remaining a year
and a half at Amherst College, during which his eyes failed him, he
applied to the celebrated Dr. Twitchell, of Kenne. N. H.. for medical
aid. Dr. Twitchell invited him to study medicine under his preceptor-
ship, and yielding to the invitation he took up the study of medicine
under Dr. Twitchell, with whom he remained si.x months, after which
he attended medical lectures at Pittsfield, Mass. Still later he pur-
sued his studies under Dr. Gridley at Amherst, and still later attended
medical lectures at Woodstock, Vt., finally returning to Dr. Gridley,
under whom he completed his medical education. Dr. Robinson began
the practice of medicine, in 1843, ^^ Belchertown, Mass., where he gained
a large practice, which proved to be a great strain on his not over-
rugged constitution. He, therefore, removed, in 1845, to Springfield,
Mass., where he opened a hospital practice. In the summer of 1843,
soon after he located at P.elchertown, Dr. Robinson married Miss Sarah
Adams, of Brookfield, Mass. She died at Springfield on January 17,
1846, leaving no children. Broken in spirit and health. Dr. Robinson
left Springfield and located at Fitchburg, Mass., where he practiced med-
icine until failing health prompted him to become the physician of a
company which was formed in Boston for an overland trip to Cali-
fornia. With this company he started out from Boston to the Golden
Gate, on March 19. 1849, arriving at Sacramento August 12 of that year.
Many were the tlirilliiig ads'cnlures of the trip, hut when Dr. Robin-
l8 BIOGRAPHICAL
son reached Sacramento he had changed from a slender man of 145
pounds to a robust person of 170, with every trace of his puhnonary
trouble gone. He soon abandoned mining and took up his residence in
Sacramento, where he practiced medicine, became a restaurant-keeper,
editor, and leader of a squatter rebellion. He espoused the cause of
the settlers and squatters, even to the narrow risk of losing his life
in the squatter riots of 1850, but to the extent of gaining a popularity
that resulted in his election, in 1851, to the legislature of California.
After serving with distinction in the legislature Dr. Robinson took a
steamer for Boston by way of the isthmus, reaching his New England
home September 9, 185 1. At Fitchburg he reengaged in the practice of
medicine, and also edited a newspaper, but the variety of positions that
he held in California seemed to indicate that in the future he would
have a wider sphere of usefulness than that of practicing medicine in
a countrj' town. The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill threw the
Territory of Kansas open to settlement, and the North and South vied
with each other in sending emigrants into the new territory for occupa-
tion under the law of "squatter sovereignty." The Emigrant Aid Com-
pany was formed at Boston for the purpose of colonizing Kansas with
persons who opposed slavery. It was through identification with the
Emigrant Aid Company as its agent that Dr. Robinson began his career
in Kansas. As agent for this company he started for Kansas on June
28, 1854, and in that same year the colonists sent out by the company
became the founders of Lawrence. As agent of this company Dr.
Robinson acted, as in other matters, according to his earnest convic-
tions. He opposed slavery ; believed in the settlement 01 Kansas and
the conquest of the slave power by building up homes of freemen on
a free soil, and once committed to this proposition he brought his varied
experience and his excessive energy to the support of the work. As
progress was made in the settlement of Kansas, troubles deepened and
clouds appeared on the horizon, and it was not long before the hardy-
pioneers were called upon to test their strength in adherence to the
purpose for which thej- came to Kansas. Apparently the odds wfere
against them, for the free-state men were under the shadow of the
populous State of Missouri, whose inhabitants were determined to make
Kansas a slave State and drive the abolitionists and free-state men
from the country. The attempt at territorial organization that was
now made defined the situation and precipitated the struggle. Dr.
Robinson was a valuable leader of the free-state men, and when they
had framed the Topeka constitution, looking to the admission of Kan-
sas as a State, and when it was thought best to organize and complete
a State government to be ready to go into full operation should State-
hood be granted under the Topeka constitution. Dr. Robinson was
elected governor on January 15, 1856, but under this constitution Kansas
failed of admission into the Union. It was under the Wvandotte con-
BIOGRAPHICAL I9
stitution that Kansas came into tlie Union on January 29, 1861, and Dr.
Robinson's election as the first governor of the State having taken place
over a year previous — December 6, 1859. The first free-state party had
ended in the formal organization of the Republican party, which was to
be the standard bearer of freedom in Kansas, and it was as the candidate
of the Republican party that Dr. Robinson was elected first State gov-
ernor, and in Volume II appears an account of his administration. It is
worthy of note, however, here to state that perhaps no other governor
of Kansas ever encountered so many difficulties as did Governor Rob-
inson. He met all with a calm and courageous spirit; started the ma-
chinery of the State government ; gave the new State an impulse toward
right government; in defense of the Union mustered find equipped
thirteen regiments and several battalions, and when his term of office
expired he cheerfully surrendered the office to Governor Carney, who
succeeded him on January 12, 1863. Compared with his previous expe-
riences in California, Massachusetts and Kansas, the life of Governor
Robinson, after the close of his term as governor of Kansas, was a
quiet one, yet it was a life of activity as the world goes, for he served
two terms in the State senate — elected in 1874 and 1876: was regent
of the University of Kansas, superintendent of the Haskell Institute, and
president of the State llistorical Society, and was engaged in agri-
culture.
Independent in spirit and thoroughly democratic in liis ideas, Dr.
Robinson finally rebelled against the restraint of a political regime.
From 1872 on he had followed the liberal wing of the Republican party,
but becoming gradually more and more estranged from the old party,
he was induced, in 1866, to leave it and enter upon a political campaign
as a candidate for Congress against E. II. Funston, but failed of elec-
tion. In 1890 he was induced to run for governor, supported by the
Democrats, Populists and Greenbackers, but again he failed of election.
In 1892 he helped to organize the fusion of the Democrats and Popu-
lists, which ended in the election of the Populist Governor Lewelling.
Throughout life Governor Robinson was an ardent friend of educa-
tion. From the beginning of the University of Kansas to the time of
his death, with the exception of a short interval, he was regent of
the institution. In 1889, in recognition of his eminent services to the
university and the cause of education, as well as on account of his
acknowledged ability in many directions, the board of regents conferred
upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws, an unusual act for
the regents, as it was the first and last honorary degree of that kind
ever issued. Governor Robinson was not a member of the board of
regents when it was issued. Another worthy tribute to Governor Rob-
inson in recognition of his services in behalf of education was paid by
the legislature of Kansas in. 1895, when it passed an act to appropriate
$1,000 for a bust of ex-Governor Robinson to be placed in the uni-
20 BIOGRAPHICAL
versity chapel, where it now stands. An important educational work
in which ex-Governor Robinson was engaged was as the superintend-
ent of Haskell Institute, one of the prominent Indian schools of the
Federal Government, located at Lawrence. But after several years of
able conduction of this institute he was compelled to resign his trust on
account of failing health.
After the burning of Dr. Robinson's house, in May, 1856, which was
situated on the hill south of North College in Lawrence, he built his
country home, "Oakridge," about four miles north of Lawrence, and
there he spent the remainder of his days, except as he was called to and
fro in his busy life. Here he passed a quiet life, devoted largely to
the management of his extensive farming interests and to the details
of private business. He was an excellent farmer, both theoretical and
practical, not only tilling his broad acres well, but also taking an active
mierest in improved methods of agriculture. He was well known in
agricultural and horticultural circles, frequently addressing societies on
topics relating to these two industries. In addition to many other things
Governor Robinson was more or less frequently engaged in writing
for newspapers and periodicals. While he contributed much of value
concerning the historical, political and social affairs of the State and
Nation, his greatest work was "The Kansas Conflict," which book
received much favorable comment. However much men may have
differed from Governor Robinson in politics, polities, public policy, no
one who will examine his career can help admiring him as a citizen and
patriot. His whole life was an object lesson of freedom, liberty, ear-
nest conviction, and of help to those who needed help, of strength to
the strong and of support to the weak. He dealt justly with all men
in private business relations, and in the home he was an excellent and
exemplary husband.
On October 30, 1851, he married Miss Sara T. D. Lawrence, the cultured
and gifted daughter of Myron and Clarissa (Dwight) Lawrence, who
proved to be a worthy companion to her distinguished husband, and
who survived him. (Elsewhere is given a jjersonal sketch of Mrs.
Robinson.)
Governor Robinson died at "Oakridge," his country home, on .\ugust
17, 1894, at the age of seventy-six years. He met "death as bravely
as if it were an ordinar}- event in life. He had often fearlessly faced
it before, but now it came, bringing the welcome end of a well-spent
life. No citizen of Kansas has passed away amid more ardent expres-
sion of affectionate regret than Charles Robinson. The whole State
knew him and felt its loss.
Foster Dwight Coburn, secretary of the Kansas State Board of Ag-
riculture, and probably the mo.st widely known citizen of the State,
was born in Jefferson county. Wisconsin, May 7. 1846, a son of Ephraim
W. and Mary Jane (Mulks) Coburn. He was reared on a farm until the
BIOGRAPHICAL 21
age of thirteen years; received his clenientar\- education in the country
schools; served during the latter years of the great Civil war in two
Illinois regiments — first as corporal in Compan}' F, One Hundred and
Thirty-fifth infantry, and subsequently as private and sergeant-major
of the Sixty-second veteran infantry. In 1867 he came to Kansas and
located in Franklin county, where he worked as a farm laborer, taught
school, and later became a farmer and breeder of improved live stock
on his own account. In Julj^ 1880, while farming in Franklin county,
Mr. Coburn was invited to a position in the office of the State Board of
Agriculture by its secretary, Joseph K. Hudson. He accepted, which
act proved the beginning of his subsequent useful career in promoting
the agricultural interests of Kansas. Shortly after he entered the office,
Mr. Hudson resigned the office of secretary and Mr. Coburn was unani-
mously elected to fill the vacancy, remaining as secretary until January
II, 1882. For several years from that time he was editor of the Live
Stock Indicator, published at Kansas City, ]\Io., and was also president of
the Indicator Publishing Company. On January 2, 1894, he was, without
solicitation, again elected secretary of the State Hoard of Agriculture
and has held the position continuously since that date, having been
reelected without opposition and by acclamation for nine consecutive
biennial terms. At the time he came to the office, in 1894, the duties of
the position were largely of a clerical nature, but, having been actively
engaged in farming for many years, the mere collection and publica-
tion of statistics did not satisfy him. He, therefore, put new ideas into
the office b}' the gathering and distribution of such information as
would be of practical benefit to the farmers of the State in their daily
work. The result has been that the Kansas agricultural department
has become one of the most important branches of the State government,
and has, perhaps, attracted more attention and respect throughout the
country than that of any other State. His reports have been widely dis-
tributed and are regarded as authority on many subjects relating to ag-
riculture, and his books, ''Swine Husbandry" and "Swine in .\merica,"
are considered the most valuable publications on the subject of swine
raising. Since he became secretary he has devoted much attention to
the subject of alfalfa culture, being one of the first officials in the
United States to take an interest in the alfalfa plant and promote its
more general growing. Several years ago he wrote a work entitled
"Alfalfa," and still later "The Book of Alfalfa," the latter being un-
questionably the best treatise on alfalfa that has found its way into
print. Among other books written by Mr. Coburn may be mentioned
"The Helpful Hen," devoted to the poultry interests; "Corn and
Sorghums;" "Railroads and Agriculture," a discussion of the trans-
portation question; several works on different breeds of cattle; "Pork
Production," "Wheat Growing," "Forage and Fodders," "The Horse
Useful;" "Modern Dairying;" "Profitable Poultry;" "The Modern
Sheep;" as well as a number of others on kindred subjects
22 BIOGRAPHICAL
Mr. Coburn was sole judge of swine at the New Orleans exposition in
1884 ; was one of the judges of swine at the Chicago exposition in 1893 ;
was unanimously elected president of the first National corn congress
at Chicago in 1898 ; has served several terms as president and vice-
president of the board of regents of the Kansas State Agricultural Col-
lege; was chief of the department of live stock at the Louisiana Pur-
chase Exposition at St. Louis in 1904; served as treasurer of the fund
raised by the people of Kansas for the famine sufferers of India ; was
strongly recommended to President McKinley by State legislatures,
stock breeders' associations, etc., in the ^^'est for Secretary of Agri-
culture in the cabinet ; was elected president of the Kansas semi-cen-
tennial Exposition Association, but declined to serve; served four terms
as president of the State Temperance Union ; was treasurer of the same
organization for four years, and was chairman of the executive com-
mittee during the ten )'ears the union was most active in its work;
was chairman ex-officio of the Kansas State dairy commission during
the whole period of its existence in 1907-08; twice served as chairman
of committees to investigate the Kansas penitentiary ; has been chair-
man ex-officio of the Kansas State entomological commission since it
was established in 1909, and has been honored in various other ways
in connection with agricultural, industrial and educational affairs.
Politically, Mr. Coburn is an unflinching Republican, but in 1898,
after a campaign to secure his nomination as governor was well under
way, he delivered an address before the State editorial association at
Kansas City, in which he positively declined to be a candidate. Not-
withstanding this, he received over eighty votes in the convention.
Again, when Senator Joseph R. Burton resigned his seat in the L^nited
States Senate, Mr. Coburn was tendered the appointment by Governor
Hoch, but declined it, with the declaration that he preferred his ag-
ricultural work in Kansas to any other, anywhere, within the gift of '
the people. Mr. Coburn is a director and vice-president of the Pru-
dential Trust Company ; a director of the Prudential State Bank, and
vice-president and a director of the Capitol Building and Loan Asso-
ciation, all of Topeka. He is an honorary life member of the Kansas
State Horticultural Society, and an honorary member of the Kansas
State Editorial Association, and has several times been unanimously
elected a director of the Kansas State Historical Society. In June,
1909, he was honored with the degree of A. M. from Baker Univer-
sity, and the following November he received the degree of LL. D. from
the Kansas State .Xgricultural College.
In 1869 Mr. Coburn married Miss Lou Jenkins, and they have two
daughters — Mrs. Frank Davis Tomson, of Cedar Rapids. Iowa, and
Mrs. Theodore Jessup, of Chicago, 111., and a son. Dr. Clay E. Coburn,
of Kansas City, Kan.
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Ja^^^-u^, Jo. dlc^^T^^^^yl^^'
BIOGRAPHICAL 23
Sara Tappan Doolittle Robinson was born at Belchertown. Mass.,
July 12, 1827, the eldest daughter of Myron and Clarissa (Dwight)
Lawrence. Her father was born at Middlebury, Mass., May 8, 1799,
and in 1820 graduated at the college in his native town. He studied
law under Hon. Willain Mark Doolittle, a graduate of Yale College and
an able lawyer of Middlebury. He became a member of the family of
his preceptor in the law, remaining such until his marriage, March
25, 1824, to Miss Clarissa Dwight, a daughter of Capt. Henry Dwight
and Ruth Rich. The Dwights have been prominent in the records for
many years in this countr\-, their name always recognized as a symbol
of earnest appreciation of all that is highest and best in education, re-
ligion and personal worth and industry. The mother of Mrs. Robinson
was possessed of personal charm, intellectual strength, great independ-
ence of character and marked individuality. Mrs. Robinson was given
the full name of the wife of her father's preceptor in the law — Sara
Tappan Doolittle. Myron Lawrence became an eminent lawyer and citi-
zen. At the age of twenty-seven he served as a representative in the
Massachusetts legislature, and afterward several years in the State
senate, over which body he presided as president. In June, before his
death on November 7, 1852, he was honored with the nomination for gov-
ernor of Massachusetts on the temperance ticket, but failing health pre-
vented his acceptance. At his home the distinguished people of the
times visited him. Among the most noted, Daniel Webster, Miss Har-
riet Martineau, Stephen Olin, Robert Rantoul, George Ashman and
W. B. Calhoun never passed him by. \\'hen Louis Kossuth, the great
Hungarian patriot, visited Boston, in 1850, Myron Lawrence presided at
the immense meeting in Faneuil Hall, which welcomed Kossuth to
that city.
Mrs. Robinson received an excellent education in the classical school
at Belchertown and at the Salem Academy. While attending school
she met with a severe accident by falling upon some stone steps with
such violence as to injure her spine. Tier natural vigor declined, and
a sympathetic blindness set in. At the time Dr. Charles Robinson,
afterward the first governor of the State of Kansas, was practicing
medicine at Belchertown, and one evening he was introduced in the
home of Miss Lawrence by Dr. Gridley, his preceptor iii medicine.
From that time on Dr. Robinson treated Miss Lawrence, who regained
her health under his treatment, and in after years became the wife of
her successful physician, to whom she was married on October 30. 185 1.
She came with him to Kansas, in 1854, and was of great aid to him in
his work as agent for the Emigrant Aid Society of New England. She
was admirably qualified for the responsible position as a support to
her husband in that early day of conflict against the pro-slavery fac-
tion in Kansas. She had a keen insight into affairs, a quick perception
and ready judgment, as well as a fearless and active nature, which
brought her services more than once into demand in times of critical
24 BIOGRAPHICAL
moment. Like her husband, she was entirely devoted to the cause of
freedom. She was a source of inspiration to other women of those
trying pioneer days. In 1856 she published a book of peculiar charm
and value — "Kansas, Its Interior and Exterior Life" — in which she
graphical]}' sets forth the scenes, actors and events of the struggle
between the anti-slavery and the pro-slavery factions of Kansas in that
early day. This work had a wide circulation and is today reckoned
among the most valuable productions touching that period of Kansas
history with which it deals. Mrs. Robinson was a pleasing writer and
a generous contributor to periodical literature. To the cause of free-
dom, liberty, education and church she was always an ardent friend
and generous supporter.
In 1856 Mrs. Robinson and her distinguished husband established
'"Oakridge," a beautiful rural estate near Lawrence, and from that time
on Mrs. Robinson resided there, where many prominent people of the
times visited. Here she and her husband shared the comforts and
delights of many years. Her husband died on August 17, 189-I. After
his death Mrs. Robinson lived in quiet retirement at "Oakridge" until
her death on November 15, 191 1.
. William Cutter Little. — A man's real worth to his community is best
determined b\- inquiring into the sentiment of his neighbors and fellow
citizens. Their estimate of him is found to be of more value in uncover-
ing the truth than all other sources of information. However, if there is
found in this sentiment a diversity of opinion, it is difficult to arrive at
accurate conclusions. On the other hand, if absolute harmany prevails
in it, if it is found to be a single unit, if a man's neighbors and dail}' asso-
ciates, without a single dissenter, proclaim him to be a worthy citizen
and a power for good in the community, then accuracy of conclusion is
made easy ; for no precedent exists in which perfect harmony of public
sentiment has proved to be wrong. The conclusions formed and herein
set forth with reference to the man under consideration have been
molded entirely from the sentiment of his friends and fellow citizens,
and since this sentiment had in it not a single discordant note, its accu-
racy can be fully vouchsafed and relied upon. Judge William Cutter
Little is one of the real pioneers of Wichita, as well as one of her sub-
stantial men and most highly respected citizens. Locating there in 1870,
when the place was a mere hamlet, he has resided in Wichita constantly
for more than forty years, and has been an important factor in the city's
growth from that period of its infancy to the present time. During all
these years he has helped to shape its destiny; has helped to solve its
various municipal problems ; has been a most potent factor in its de-
velopment ; has had the satisfaction of seeing it become the prosperous
and important commercial city of more than 50.000 people that it is
today, and has contributed to its social, architectural, religious and edu-
cational advancement as few others have done. He has also been just
BIOGRAPHICAL 25
as active during this time in promoting the welfare and industrial better-
ment of Sedgwick county and of the State of Kansas.
Judge I^ittle was born in W'ethersfield, Henry county, Illinois, March
17, 1847, descended from good old New England Revolutionary stock
and a member of a worthy, numerous and highly representative Amer-
ican family. His father was Caleb Jewett Tenny I^ittle, who was born
at Goffstown, In^. H., July 13, 181 1, and removed to the State of Hllinois
in 1837. His mother's maiden name was liliza Ann Brooks, born at Gro-
ton, Mass., July 27, 1813. Both lived to a mature old age, the father,
who by occupation was a general merchant, dying in his eigthy-fourth
j'ear, and the mother in her eightieth year. The paternal grandfather,
Abner Bailey Little, died in his ninetieth year. The family was founded
in America by George Little, who immigrated to New England from
L'nicorn street, London Bridge, England, and located at Newbury,
Mass., in 1640. His descendants spread from Massachusetts to New
Hampshire, Maine, V'ermont, New York, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois,
and thence to other parts of the country, until today they inhabit prac-
tically every State of the American L'nion. The family has contributed
its full share toward the building up of American institutions, and, per-
haps, no other family can lay claim to a larger number of true Amer-
ican patriots. The chief characteristics of its members have been thrift,
industry, sobriety, intelligence and patriotism, together with religious
and educational tendencies of a high degree. In short, the descendants
of George Little, in America, belong to that class of citizens who have
been noted for their rugged honesty, their sturdy high character, their
activity' in the founding of schools, colleges and churches, their loyalty
and patriotism in time of war, and their industry and progressiveness in
time of peace. George Little, though he came from England, was un-
doubtedly of Scotch descent, and the high standards for which the Scotch
are noted have been worthily maintained by his American descendants.
In Judge Little's possession there is a book entitled, "Descendants of
George Little," which was published in 1882 by George Thomas Little,
A. M., of Auburn, Me., a member of the Maine Historical Society. This
volume shows George Little's descendants to be very numerous through-
out this country, there being personal accounts in it of more than 1,400
heads of families and 6,500 members, and it was published nearly thirty
years ago.
In religion the family has been altogether Protestant, and foi the most
part Congregationalists, while in occupation it has been about equally
divided among three of the principal vocations — one-third of them giv-
ing their attention to agriculture, one-third to commercial and mechan-
ical pursuits, and the remaining third to the learned professions, being
about equally divided in law, medicine and theology. There have been
five college presidents among them ; there have been representatives in
both branches of the National Congress, and statistics show that one out
26 BIOGRAPHICAL
of every twenty has served in State legislatures. The faniily has been
represented in all of the principal American wars, including the French
and Indian, the Revolution, the War of 1812 and the Civil war. Col.
Moses Little, who was officer of the daj' when Washington took com-
mand of the Continental army, and who commanded a regiment at the
battle of Bunker Hill, was one of George Little's descendants, while
others of his descendants have been prominent ag authors and publish-
ers ; and through maternal lines kinship can be traced to the poets —
Longfellow and AMiittier. Three towns of the American Union bear
the name of Littleton in honor of their founders, while the names of
members of the family appear in generous numbers on the alumni rolls
of American colleges, those of Harvard and Dartmouth predominating.
The branch of the family to which William C. Little belongs has been
noted for its remarkable longevity, his grandfather and both of his par-
ents reaching a ripe old age, as has already been noted, while five golden
weddings were celebrated by the brothers and sisters in his father's
family. It will be seen by the foregoing that William C. Little belongs
to a most worthy American family — a family which has maintained a
high standard in all matters relating to American progress, and which
represents the best sentiments and highest ideals in American life ;
and it may also be said to be a family of pioneers, for his great ancestor,
George Little, was a pioneer of Massachusetts and of the country itself,
while his father was a pioneer of the State of Illinois, and he. himself,
was a pioneer of the State of Kansas.
Judge William Cutter Little was reared to manhood in his native State
of Illinois and was educated in its public schools and in Kewanee Acad-
em}', in which he graduated in 1866. Besides the common branches,
his studies included English, Latin, Greek and German. In the fall of
1866 he entered Beloit College, but after a short time his studies there
were discontinued on account of ill health. He taught a country school
during one winter and later read law in the offices of Howe & North, at
Kewanee, 111., and was admitted to practice by the Supreme Court oi
Illinois. April 25, 1870. His attention was first attracted to Kajisas
when, as a small boy, he assisted in shelling corn which had been donated
by his father to the Kansas Immigration Aid Society. Later, when he
was older, his father pointed out to him the advantages which a new
country offered to young men of pluck, energ\', and tenacity of purpose,
and of limited means. Accordingly, soon after his admission to the bar,
and while considering the question of a location, he decided that he
would make Kansas his future home. Reaching this State September 20,
1870, he went directly to Wichita, where he has since resided. After
practicing law about fourteen years he turned his entire attention to
financial matters, and for more than twenty-five years has been promi-
nently identified with the financial, commercial and industrial history
and affairs of the city. During 1881 and 1882 he wound up the affairs
BIOGRAPHICAL 2/
of the First National Bank of \\ichita, as receiver. lie is now presi-
dent of the Wichita Loan and Trust Company, ])resident of the \\'estern
Investment and Realty Company, and is vice-president of the State Sav-
ings Bank of Wichita. Together with associates he built the first rein-
forced concrete building in the State, the present Boston Store on the
corner of Douglas and Main streets, Wichita, and is still the principal
owner of this valuable property, which is, perhaps, the largest and best
building, devoted exclusively to retail purposes, in the State of Kansas.
Judge Little has always taken an active part in the affairs of Wichita
and of Sedgwick county and has been one of the foremost men in the
city in devoting his time, attention and energies to the public weal. He
was vice-president of. the compan)- that built the first street railway *o
Fairmount; was chairman of the court-house committee which acquired
title to the ground and located the present county court house, and
he had charge of the election which voted the bonds to build it. He
was a member of the citizens' cominittee, which, in conjunction with a
committee from the city council, consulted with New York engineers
concerning a sewer system for Wichita, and as such he helped to work
out the perfect system in use today. He was an active participant in the
movement, and one of its heavy cash contributors, which led to the loca-
tion of the Dold and W^iittaker packinghouses in Wichita, the latter now
being the splendid plant of the Cudahys, and in other ways his influence
and means have contributed to the growth of W'ichita's industrial de-
velopment. He was one of the public-spirited citizens who purchased
the site of the present United States Government building in Wichita,
and was thus instrumental in bringing about its most excellent and con-
venient location. Along this line it may also be mentioned that Judge
Little took the iniatory steps in the mo\ement that led to the pur-
chase of the real estate bj- the city and the establishment of Hamilton
Park at a point only a blick and a half from Wichita's business center,
and in the transaction which conveyed the property to the municipality
he represented its Eastern owners. These are only a few of the more
important ways in which Judge Little's influence for good in his com-
munity has ben manifested. In addition to this his acts of philan-
thropy and deeds of charity have been numerous, while his sterling-
integrity and his uniform, manly, high charcter have been such as ^o
exercise a most beneficent influence upon his fellows and the rising
youth. Though not an enthusiast. Judge Little has always taken a keen
interest in manly out-door sports, was formerly a member of the Pace
Gun Club, and for many years was a member of the Waldock Lake
Fishing and Gun Club and of Wichita's country club.
In politics he has always been a Republican, casting his first Presi-
dential vote for Ulysses S. Grant. His political ideas, however, have
ever been characterized by independence of thought and action and by
consistent progressiveness. In 1871 he was appointed county super-
28 BIOGR.APHICAL
intendent of public instruction, to fill out an unexpired term, and from
1872 to 1876 served two terms as probate judge of Sedgwick county.
He is fond of literature, is a ready writer, and has the facultj^ of being
able to express his thoughts easily in both poetry and prose. In the
columns of the local press there has frequently appeared verse from
Judge Little's pen which shows him possessed of much talent as a com-
poser of well-metered, catchy and entertaining rhyme. In addition tc
being a large owner of city real estate. Judge Little has been an owner
of Kansas farms, and he has ever taken a deep interest in the most ad-
vanced methods of agriculture and in the improvement of Kansas live
stock. He has always been a strong advocate of the growing of alfalfa,
and was one among the first men in Kansas to raise it and to demon-
strate its great value and successful culture. He has ever been a lover
of high-bred domestic animals and has done much to improve the flocks
and herds of Kansas. Pedigreed Merino sheep from the finest flocks of
western Xew York and Vermont were brought in by him in car load lots,
while the herds of Kansas cattle have been improved by pedigreed Short
Horns and Herefords. which he had shipped in from the States of Alis-
souri and Illinois. This marked fondness for thoroughbred domestic
animals was in evidence even at his city home in Wichita, for his chil-
dren's pony was an imported Shetland, the family dog was a well-bred
Newfoundland, and the cows were of the best strain of Jerseys. For
many years he was secretary of the local wool growers' association,
which enabled flock masters to store and hold their wool and later
ship it in car lots to the markets of St. Louis, Boston and Philadelphia,
thus obtaining better prices for their product.
At Kewanee, Henry count}', Illinois, on June 2, 1875, Judge Little was
married to Miss Anna Louise Reed. She was born at Canandaigua, N. Y.,
August 31, 1853. daughter of William and Lucinda (Antes) Reed.
The Reed family, also, was of good New England Revolutionary stock,
many of its members becoming sturdj' and aggressive early settlers of
western New York. It was composed of good men and true, not un-
known in war, politics and religion — such famous characters as Gen.
George A. Custer, e.x-Speaker Thomas B. Reed and Episcopal Bishop
Charles Cheney, of Chicago, being among their number. Judge Little
and wife are the parents of three children, all sons, and born at Wichita,
Kan., as follows: Fred William Little, born November 16. 1877. was ed-
ucated at Leiwis Academy and Wentworth Military Academy, read law in
the offices of the late Gov. William E. Stanley, was admitted to the bar
in 1900, and now is vice-president of the Wichita Loan and Trust Com-
pany and of the Western Investment and Realty Company; married No-
vember 23, 1901. to Miss Sarah Emma, daughter of Finlay and Sarah
(Parham) Ross; one child, Fred Ross Little, born August 31, 1906.
George Reed Little, born May 3, 1880, received his preparatory education
in the Wichita public schools and at Lewis Academy, graduating in
BIOGRAPHICAL 29
1899; completed his literary work in Fairmount College and at Harvard
University ; graduated from the Northwestern University Medical School,
of Chicago, June 20, 1907, following which he completed services as resi-
dent physician in the Rockford Hospital at Rockford. 111. ; the Mil-
waukee County Hospital, of Wauwatosa, Wis., and the Chicago I.ying-in
Hospital and Dispensary at Chicago, 111., receiving diplomas from those
institutions; he is now a practicing physician and surgeon of Wichita.
Edward Antes Little, born January 20. 1889, was educated in the Wichita
public schools, Fairmount College and Leland Stanford University ; grad-
uated from the literary department of the last named institution in 1910,
and is now a student in its legal department.
Judge Little is eligible to membership in the Sons of the .\merican
Revolution and his wife is eligible to membership in the Daughters of
the .\merican Revolution, both liaving in their possession all the neces-
sary data which would admit them to those two patriotic organizations.
Ever since he located in Wichita, Judge Little has been a member and
active supporter of the First Presbyterian Church of that city, there
being no Congregational church there at an early date. During the
greater part of his forty years' membership with the First Presbyterian
Church he has served as one of its trustees, and for many years was
president of its official board. He has always taken a deep interest in
churches, schools and colleges and the work of the Young Men's Chris-
tian -Association, and has ever been a generous supporter of all of these
bulwarks of society and civilization. He was one of the founders of
Lewis Academy and Fairmount College, of Wichita, and lie and Mrs.
Little have for many }ears been liberal contributors to the cause of for-
eign missions, maintaining missionaries at their own expense in foreign
lands. Judge Little feels that of all of the investments he has ever made
outside of home and family, those that have paid the largest dividends
and yielded the higjiest happiness, arc those made by himself and wife in
supporting native pastors in foreign lands, in the education of young
men for the ministry at Chefoo. China, and in the assistance given to
the missions and to the poor of their home city. He believes the world
is growing better, is an arrlcnt su])porter of the theory of international
arbitration, and his sympathies have ever been with the weak as against
the strong. Judge Little is a well preserved man and is apparently quite
as active, and possessed of as much vigor as a man in the fullness of his
prime. His fine physical condition, no doubt, is due, in part at least, to
his regular manner of living and abstemious habits, it being a rule of his
life totally to abstain from intoxicants and narcotics of every form. In
other words, it has been his aim to adhere strictly to the principles of
the simple life, with the result that he is possessed of a clear brain, a
steady nerve and a well-fortified physique, despite his three-score and
four years. Simple in his tastes, quiet and unobtrusive in his manner,
with tenacity of purse. Judge I,ittlc has made an imjiress on the finan-
30 BIOGRAPHICAL
cial. business, religious and educational history of Wichita, as few
others have done, and has proved himself to be a creditable representa-
tive of an excellent family and a worthy descendant of his patriotic an-
cestry.
John L. Finley, a prominent attorney of St. Francis, Kan., formerly
county attorney of Cheyenne county, and legislative representative in
1907, 1908 and 1909, was born in Stark county, Illinois, December 6, 1854,
son of A. J. and M. J. Finley, natives of Ohio, who came to Illinois
in the early '30s, where the father of our subject engaged in farm-
ing and stock raising. Both parents are still living and reside in San
Diego, Cal.
John Finley was raised and attended common schools in Stark county,
later entering Heading College at Abingdon, 111., taking the degree of
Bachelor of Philosophy in that institution in 1877. After leaving col-
lege he taught school one winter and farmed one summer, when he went
to college at Ann Arbor, Mich., taking the degree of Bachelor of Laws in
the law department of that school in 1881. He first located at Hastings,
Neb., where he practiced his profession until the spring of 1886, and was
city attorney of that town for a short time. He then removed to St. Fran-
cis, Kan., arriving before the county of Cheyenne was organized. He
returned to Flastings to settle up some business matters and while he
was absent the organization of the county was effected. Mr. Finley
began practice in St. Francis, in 1893 was appointed county attorney
to fill an unexpired term, and in 1897 waS' elected to that office and
served four year*, his term expiring in 1901. In 1907 Mr. Finley was
elected representative from Cheyenne county to the State legislature
and served two terms, 1907 and 1909, and in the special session of 1908,
in which the primary law was passed. While he was a member of the
house the anti-pass bill became a law, and Mr. Finley served on the
committee on irrigation, also on the special committee to investigate
the safet}- appliances on railroads, and was chairman of the immigration
committee. He was mayor of St. Francis from 1905 to 1909, is a Repub-
lican in politics and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows
and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
In February, 1886, Mr. Finley was married to Nelly D. Holly at
Hastings, Neb. She is the daughter of Joel Holly, a native of New
York, in which State Mrs. Finley was born. Mr. Holly was a farmer
and his daughter attended the common schools and later the high school.
For several terms she taught school in Nebraska. Mr. and Mrs. Finley
have seven children, Floyd, Ethel, Myrtle, Holly, Clifford, Lila and
John L. Ethel is a teacher in the rural schools of Cheyenne county,
Floyd attended normal college at Salina, Kan., and is now a hardware
and implement merchant at McDonald. The other children are at home,
and the three youngest are attending school in St. Francis.
z^^^/rx
BIOGRAPHICAL 3I
David J. Brewer, jurist, was born in Smyrna, Asia Minor. June 30,
1837, son of Josiah and Amelia (Field) Brewer. His father was an
American missionary and his mother was a daughter of Rev. David
Dudley Field, of Stockbridge, Mass. During his infancy his parents
returned to America and located at Westerfield, Conn. After finishing
tiie public schools he attended the Wesleyan University at Middle-
town, Conn., later entered Yale in the junior year and graduated in
1856. He studied law with his uncle, David Dudley Field, entered the
.\lbany Law School, from which he graduated in 1858. In order to
carve out a career of his own and not be known merely as his uncle's
nephew, he came west, stopping first at St. Louis, then at Kansas Cit}^
where he contracted the gold fever and went to Pike's Peak. Return-
ing to Kansas City and not finding an opening he located at Leaven-
worth, in 1859, having but sixty-five cents left. In 1861 he was
appointed United States commissioner of the circuit court of the dis-
trict of Kansas; from 1862 to 1865 he was judge of the probate and
criminal courts of Leavenworth ; became judge of the First judicial
district in 1864, and in 1871 was elected to the supreme bench of Kan-
sas as associate justice, reelected in 1876 and again in 1882, resigning
in 1844. I" that year he was appointed by President Arthur to the
L'nited States circuit court as judge in the Eighth judicial circuit.
In December, 1889, President Harrison appointed Judge Brewer asso-
ciate justice of the United States supreme court to succeed Justice
Stanley Matthews, who was deceased. In 1890 he became a lecturer on
corporation law at the University of Columbia in New York. In 1896,
when President Cleveland made up the board of commissioners to
investigate the boundar}' troubles between Venezuela and British
Guiana, Justice Brewer was one of the members, and when the board
organized for business he was elected the presiding officer. The next
year he and Justice Fuller were arbitrators in behalf of Venezuela in
the same matter with Great Britain. He was president of the universal
congress of lawyers and jurists at the Louisiana Piirchaso lixposition at
St. Louis in 1904.
Judge Brewer made corporation law his specialty and rendered most
\aluablc service in the corporation cases in the supreme court. So
largely was his knowledge depended upon in these matters that his
death, in March, 1910, left the Government in a quandary as to how to
dispose of the Standard Oil and Tobacco cases then pending. Some of
his most important work was done in the interests of Kansas women,'
one of his decisions resulting in the establishment of the eligibility of
women to the office of county superintendent of public instruction,
another in the recognition and sustaining of the right of married women
to property belonging to them before marriage, and to the wages earned
by them after marriage. Among his literary works were: "The Pew
and the Pulpit," "The Twentieth Century from Another Viewpoint,"
"American Citizenship," and "The United States as a Christian Nation."
32 BIOGRAPHICAL
He held a great many advanced views, was an ardent advocate for
woman suffrage, and as a churchman was broad minded. The degree of
LL. D. was conferred upon liim by Washburn, Iowa and ^'ale colleges.
Judge Brewer married Louise R. Landon, of Burlington, "V't., in 1861,
who died in April, 1898. In June, 1901, he married Emma Minor Mott,
of Washington, D. C, who survived him at his death. Although he
lived in the city of Washington for many years he never ceased to
recognize Leavenworth as his home, and the people of that place always
claimed him as a resident. His body was brought back to Leavenworth
and was met at the depot by more than 1,200 citizens. Business was sus-
pended and the flag floated at half-mast. It was said that he was the
most democratic of all supreme court judges.
Joseph E. Hawley, M. D., Burr Oak, Kan., is one of the leading phy-
sicians and surgeons of the State. Dr. Hawley is a native of the State
of New York, having been born at Walton, Delaware county, June i,
1852. His parents were Edward and Angeline (Gee) Hawley, both
natives of Delaware county, Xew York, and descendants of Revolu-
tionary ancestors. Edward Hawley was a son of Harvey Hawley, whose
father was a soldier in Washington's army. Angeline Gee was a daugh-
ter of James Gee, whose father. Peter Gee, was a soldier in the
Continental army in the Revolutionary war. Soon after the Avar he
settled in Delaware county, New York, near Downsville. In 1865. Dr.
Hawley 's parents came west with their family of six children and lo-
cated in Chickasaw county, Iowa, and in 1872 they went still farther
west, this time locating in AVebster county, Nebraska, where they
homesteaded. The father died there September 17, 1879, and the mother
survived until April 26, 1896, when she, too, passed into the great
beyond.
Dr. Hawley received his early education in the public schools of
New York and Iowa and the Bradford Academy at Bradford, Iowa. He
was employed in a drug store at Bradford and read medicine with a local
physician at the same time. In 1871 he went to Spring Ranch, Clay
county, Nebraska, which was at that time the edge of the frontier settle-
ment. It was forty miles to the nearest doctor and young Hawley's
knowledge of medicine was soon appreciated. From that time on he was
known as "Doctor" and, while he did not feel competent in many casev
he was compelled to do the best he could, and on acount of the great
distance to any other doctor he had many calls and built up quite a
practice. He was well supplied with medical books and devoted all his
spare time to study and often took Druett's work on surgery with him
as a guide when called to attend a patient with a fracture or a disloca-
tion. Such were the circumstances under which Dr. Hawley began the
practice of his profession. In 1877 '^^ ^old his homestead improve-
ments in Nebraska and removed to Burr Oak, Jewell county, Kansas.
On July 25, 1879, he passed the examination before the State Board of
BIOGRAPHICAL 33
Medical Examiners and was admitted to practice under the act of 1879,
Laws of Kansas. During the years 1880, 1881 and 1882 he attended the
St. Joseph Hospital Medical College, where he was graduated, February
28, 1882. In 1901 he attended Post-Graduate' Medical College, Chicago,
111., and in 1904 he attended the Chicago Polyclinic, during which time
he spent si.x months in laboratory and hospital work in Chicago and
Kansas City. Thus Dr. Hawley commenced his professional career as
a pioneer doctor, riding over the plains in all kinds of weather, night
and day, carrying aid and comfort to the afflicted, while yet a mere
boy in his teens. He has never ceased to be a close student of the science
of medicine and surgery and his career has been one of progress. He con-
tinued the general practice until the fall of 191 1, since which time he has
devoted himself especially to surgery. He also conducts a drug' store
in P)Urr Oak, which he has owned since 1883.
Dr. Hawley has been twice married, first, November 21, 1871, to
Alice J. Stephenson, of Chickasaw county, Iowa. To this union were
forn four children, Bert A., in the mercantile business at Leedy, Okla. ;
Edward P., merchants, Traer, Kan.; Seth D., one of the leading phy-
sicians and surgeons of Oklahoma, resides at Tulsa, Okla., and Julia,
now Mrs. Charles F. Anderson, Burr Oak. Alice J. Hawley died
December 25, 1910. Dr. Hawley was married May 3, 1912, to Miss Rella
M. Lambert, of Kansas City, Mo., and former resident of Burr Oak. Not-
withstanding Dr. Hawley has alwa_VB had an extensive practice he has
at the same time taken a keen interest in the public affairs and the pro-
motion of the best interests of the community. He is now serving his
fifth term as mayor of Burr Oak; has served on the city council eighteen
years : a member of the school board nine years, and was coroner of
Jewell county one term. He was the Republican candidate for the legis-
lature, but was engulfed by the Populistic wave that swept the State.
During Harrison's administration he was appointed United States Pen-
sion E.xaminer and served six }ears, and in igio was appointed by Presi-
dent Taft to the same position, which he still holds. He is local medical
examiner for several of the largest insurance companies and has been
the local physician for the Missouri Pacific railroad for twenty years.
Dr. Hawley is a member of the American Medical Association and the
National Geographical Association. Fraternally he is a member of the
Masonic order and the Independent Order of Foresters. He is a Repub-
lican and a member of the Christian church and a strong advocate
of prohibition.
James Emmett Stidham. — If tliosc who claim that fortune has favored
certain individuals above others will but investigate the cause of success
and failure, it will be found that the former is largely due to the improve-
ment of opportunity, and the latter to the neglect of it. Fortunate envi-
ronments encompass most men at some stage in their career, but the
strong man and the successful man is he who realizes that the proper
34 IJlOCRAl'IllCAf,
moment has come, that the present and not the future holds his oppor-
tunity. The man who makes use of the Now and not the To Be is he
who passes on the highway of life others who started ahead of him,
and reaches the goal of prosperity far in advance of them. It is this
quality in Mr. Stidham that has made him a leader in the world of affairs
and won him a name that is widely known in connection with banking
interests. *
j\Ir. Stidham is now engaged as cashier of the Farmers' State Bank
at Esbon, Kan., in Jewell county, where he has been a resident since he
came to Kansas with his parents in 1872. He was born in Darke county,
Ohio, March 19. 1855, son of George W. and Eliza A. (Pitm.an) Stidham,
the former of Swiss descent, born in Delaware in 181 1, and the latter a
native of Ohio. They were the parents of two children — James E. and a
daughter, who is the widow of W. H. Bunch and resides in Beloit, Kan.
In November, 1872, the family removed to Jewell county, Kansas, where
the father spent his remaining days, passing away in 1895 at the age of
eigty-four years.
James E. Stidham is indebted to the public school system and to
Whitewater Academy at Whitewater, Ind., for the educational privileges
which he enjoyed in his youth. He has added largely to his knowledge
by experience, reading and observation. He was reared upon a farm, and
as before stated, in November, 1872. came to Kansas, with his parents, in
order to take advantage of the Government offer of cheap lands. The
family settled one mile south of the present towm of Jewell City, which
at that time was a small collection of shacks around a sod fort. The son
taught school in Jewell county six years, and in 1880 was appointed as-
sistant postmaster at Jewell Citj*. He later engaged in the book anJ
stationery business, which he followed five years, and in 1886 entered the
photograph business. He also bred and trained trotting and fancy
driving horses and was very successful in that line of endeavor. In 1896
he was again appointed assistant postmaster at Jewell City and served
four years. In 1901 he was appointed assistant postmaster at Beloit,
Kan., but in 1902 returned to Jewell City and engaged in the real estate
business. In 1904 he helped organize the Citizens' State Bank at Jewell
City and served as assistant cashier until 1907, when he removed to
Esbon, Kan., where he organized the Farmers' State Bank, of which he
has been cashier up to the present time. In addition to his banking inter-
ests he is a stockholder in the Jewell Citj- mill, and in many ways he has
advanced the material interests of Esbon. He has a quarter-section of
land — the Hutchinson homestead — in Jewell caunty, which is devoted to
farming and grazing purposes. In his business affairs he has met with
a high degree of success, being a man capable of management, with keen
discrimination and far-sighted sagacity.
In 1907 Mr. Stidham was united in marriage to Miss Flora Hutchinson,
daughter of David and Eliza Hutchinson, who homesteaded in Jewell
QcU^ .h^f^^^'-i
BIOGRAPHICAr. 35
county in 1872, where both died in the spring of 1905. Mr. and Mrs.
Hutchinson were the parents of five children. One son, Benjamin, re-
sides in Colorado, and four daughters — Mrs. Eva McAllister, Mrs. Carrie
White, Mrs. Ella Rose and Mrs. Stidham — are residents of Jewell county.
Mrs. Stidham is assistant cashier in the Farmers' State Bank at Esbon.
In his political views Mr. Stidham is an ardent and earnest Republican,
laboring untiringly for the success of the party and the adoption of its
principles. He served as a delegate to the Sixth district Republican con-
vention in 1908. Fraternally he is a Mason, having membership in the
Blue Lodge and the Chapter, and he is also a member of the Subordinate
Lodge and Encampment of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, hav-
ing served as representative in the Grand Lodge and as a member of the
committee in the Grand Encampment. His religious faith is expressed
by membership in the Methodist church.
John James Ingalls, author, lawyer and United States Senator, was
born in Middleton, Mass., December 29, 1833, a son of Elias T. and Eliza
(Chase) Ingalls. He was descended from Edmond Ingalls, who. with his
brother, Francis, founded the town of Lynn, Mass., in 1868. His father
was a first cousin of Mehitable Ingalls, the grandmother of the late
President Garfield. His mother was a descendant of Aquilla Chase, who
settled in New Hampshire in 1630. Chief Justice Chase was of this
family. After going through the public schools Ingalls attend Williams
College at Williamstown, Mass., graduating in 1855. He then studied
law and was admitttcd to the bar in 1857. The next year he came to Kan-
sas and in 1859 ^^'''■'' ^ member of the Wyandotte, Constitutional Conven-
tion. In i860 he was secretary of the Territorial council and was also
secretary of the first State senate, in 1861. The next year he was elected
State senator from Atchison county. In that year, and again in 1864, he
was nominated for lieutenant-governor on the anti-Lane ticket. During
the Civil war he ser\-e(l as judge-advocate on the staff of Gen. George
W. Deitzler with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In 1865 Mr. Ingalls
married Miss Anna Louisa Cheeseborough, a descendant of William
Cheeseborough, who came to this country with Governor Winthrop in
1630. Her father, Ellsworth Cheeseborough, was a New York importer
who came to .Xtchison, Kan., in 1859, and at the time of his death, in
i860, was an elector on the Lincoln ticket. Of this union eleven children
\vere born, six of whom were living at the time of Mr. Ingalls' death, viz. :
Ellsworth. Ethel. Ralph, Sheffield. Marion and Muriel.
In 1873, "Opportunity," of which Mr. Ingalls wrote in his declining
years, knocked at his door. He was made a candidate for Ignited States
senator at a private caucus one night, and was elected by the legislature
the next day. His career in Washington, covering a period of eighteen
years, was one of great brilliancy. He quickly acquired distinction, and
Speaker Reed remarked before he had leafned the name of new sena-
tor: "Any man who can state a proposition as that senator does is a
36 BIOGRAPHICAL
great man." As a parliamentarian he was unsurpassed. Senator Harris,
a Democrat from Tennessee, said: "Mr. Ingalls will go down upon the
records as the greatest presiding officer in the history of the Senate."
His speeches made him famous. He was the master of sarcasm and
satire, as well of eulogistic oratory. His address on John Brown, a
speech of blistering satire ; the one delivered in Atchison after his vindica-
tion in the Senate, and his eulogies of Senator Hale and Senator Wilson
are classic masterpieces, seldom, if ever, excelled in oratory. Senator
Ingalls was a strict partisan, an invincible champion of any cause, and a
bitter and persevering opponent. During his three terms in the Senate
his greatest efforts were in the advocacy of the constitutional rights of
the freedom of the South and the rights of the veterans of the Civil war.
When a wave of Populism came over Kansas it found him practically
unprepared. He had given little attention to the money question and the
tariff, and it was these things that were clamoring for solution. He
was defeated b}' the Populists for senator in 1891. Mr. Ingalls said
many times that he valued a seat in the Senate above any other honor
in the gift of the American people. As an author Mr. Ingalls won his
reputation first by a number of articles appearing in the old "Kansas
Magazine," among which were "Cat-Fish Aristocracy" and "Blue Grass."
His poem, "Opportunity," is worthy to be classed with the greatest in
the English language, and it ma}^ yet outlive his reputation as an orator
and statesman, and be his lasting monument. After leaving the Senate
Mr. Ingalls retired from active life, traveled for his health, and died in
New Mexico, August 16, 1900. In January. 1905. a statue of him was in-
stalled in Statuary Hall at Washington with fitting ceremonies, being
the first statue to be contributed by Kansas, although Ingalls during
his lifetime had urged upon the State to place one of John Brown in
this hall.
Emmet D. George, Mankato. Kan., a native Kansan who for several
years was prominent in educational work in the State. Mr. George was
born at Holton, May 3. 1873, and is a son of Hiram and Margaret (Wil-
son') George, both natives of Indiana. They lived for a time m Iowa
and in 1869 came to Kansas, locating at Holton, where they took a home-
stead and farmed. The George family consisted of nine children who
lived to maturity. The parents are both deceased, the mother departing
this life in 1909.
Emmet D. George was educated in the public schools of Smith and
Jewell counties and later attended the Salina Normal School, where he
was graduated in the class of 1893. ^^ then taught in country schools
and in 1894 was the nominee of his party for county superintendent of
schools. The next )'ear found him enrolled in Campbell College, Holton,
where he remained a year. .Mter a year or so more of teaching he entered
the State Normal School at Emporia, graduating in 1898. He began his
career as a teacher in 1890 in the district schools of Jewell county, and in
BIOGRAPHICAL 37
1899 was elected principal of the Alankato High School. At the expira-
tion of that year he was elected superintendent of the Mankato schools.
After serving in that capacity for two years he was elected superin-
tendent of the city schools of Paola, Miami county, Kansas. He filled
this responsible position to the entire satisfaction of all concerned for a
period of five jears, when he resigned to engage in the newspaper work.
During the later years of his school work he spent the summer months
in institute work, and was well and favorably known throughout the
State in that line of work. During the year 1905 he was president of the
Southeastern Kansas Teachers' Association. He was also active in the
State Teachers' Association and served one term as its vice-president,
also chairman of the auditing committee. In 1907 Mr. George purchased
the Jewell County "^Monitor," a weekly paper published at Mankato.
This uews])aper was founded in 1873 and Byron Thompson was its first
editor. It has the largest circulation of any paper in the Sixth Congres-
sional district, and its political policy has always been Republican. L"n-
der the editorial management of JMr. George the "Monitor'' maintains, a
high standard among the well conducted newspapers of western Kansas.
In February, 1911, Mr. George was appointed postmaster of Mankato,
which position he now holds. August 6, 1900, he was united in marriage
to Miss Jessie Walker, of Burlington, Kan. They have two children,
Dorothy May and Byron Lyle. Mr. and Mrs. George are members of the
Christian church. He is affiliated with the Masonic order. Modern
Woodmen of America, Red Men, Ro3'al Neighbors. Eastern -Star and the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
George J. Farrell, the ])opular sheriff of Phillips county, i< a represent-
ative of that class of substantial builders of a great commonwealth who
have served faithfully and long in Kansas. He is one of the pioneers of
this great Slate who has nobly done his duty in establishing and main-
taining the material interests and moral welfare of his community. Mr.
Farrell was born in Washington county. New York, July 22, i860, the
son of Patrick and Margaret Farrell, both of whom were born in Ire-
land. They came to America and located in New York State, where
Patrick Farrell engaged in farming. George was reared on his father's
farm and attended the common schools of Washington county until
1872, when his parents removed to Jefferson county, Nebraska, coming
west with a party known as the Plymouth Colony. Nebraska was on
the frontier at that time and this company was one of the first to locate
in the region. Mr. Farrell again engaged in farming and at the same
time raised stock, but in 1877 he came to Kansas, taking land in Phillips
county, and a year later his family joined him. They arrived in Novem-
ber, having made the trip from Nebraska in a wagon, as railroads were
few and did not run to Phillips county. The nearest railroad was at
Kearney, Neb., from which point the grain raised in the northern coun-
ties of Kansas was freighted to market. The '"'•^t li..ni,. ,,f ilio Fnrrolls
38 BIOGRAPHICAL
in Kansas was a dug-out and the first school George Farrell attended
here was also in a dug-out, furnished with rude home-made benches and
desks of Cottonwood timber. Air. Farrell went to school only one term,
as he immediately began to work on the farm, part of his time being de-
voted to herding cattle, as the country was open range. Buffalo grass
covered the rolling prairies ; there were no roads and went people went
any distance they followed divides between the streams or crossed
the creeks and rivers at fords. Crop failures were frequent and money
scarce, as the school teacher in the district where the Farrells lived re-
ceived but $io a month and boarded around among families of the
pupils. Upon attaining his majority, Mr. Farrell took a hometsead in
Prairie View township, where he built a sod house, the usual habitation
of first settlers in a country where sods were plenty and lumber scarce
and high. For some time he lived in this home and still owns the orig-
inal homestead upon which it stood, although he has since purchased
eighty acres of land adjoining the first holding. Air. Farrell engaged in
general farming and for some years has made a specialty of raising
Short Horn cattle and a high-grade of hogs, lines in which he has been
very successful, due to his own personal supervision of the farm, busi-
ness ability and hard work. Since first locating in Kansas he has taken
an active interest in all public affairs, having served as township clerk,
treasurer and trustee, and as trustee of the school board for twenty-nine
years, from 1881 to 1910. In the latter year he was elected sheriff of
Phillips county on the Democratic ticket, a position which he has filled
with great credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the men who
elected him to office. Air. Farrell is a member of the Masonic order,
being a Knight Templar. For years he has been a stanch adherent of
the Democratic party and has stood high in its councils.
On November 27, 1884, he married Ellen, the daughter of P. C. S. and
Nora O'Neill Lowe, the former a native of New Hampshire and the
latter of Ireland. The parents lived in Alinnesota before coming to
Kansas, and there Mrs. Farrell was born, November 27, 1862. The Lowe
family were among the pioneer settlers of Leavenworth county, Kansas,
and from there Mr. Lowe enlisted in the army at the outbreak of the
Civil war. Airs. Farrell was raised in Leavenworth, attending the pub-
lic schools there until 1879, when the family came to Phillips county,
where she taught school in the country for a time before her marriage.
The first school house where she taught was made of sod. There are
two children in the Farrell family: Emmit, who has charge of his
father's farm, and Nora, who teaches in Phillips county.
Ed C. Hill, the present efficient postmaster at Burr Oak, was born in
Iowa county, Wisconsin, Alay 27, 1859. He is a son of Sylvester and
Eliza (Eillington) Hill. Sylvester Hill was a native of Crawford county,
Pennsylvania, and came west with his parents when a child. He was a
son of Jonathan Hill, who was a native of Connecticut, and one of the
BIOGRAnilCAL 39
original settlers in that portion of Ohio known as the Western Reserve.
He was the first settler in what is now Hartsgrove township, Lake
county, Ohio. After a residence of several years there he went west and
while on the way to Iowa county, Wisconsin, he was taken sick, and died
at Fond du Lac, that State. The family continued on to Iowa county,
where Sylvester Hill resided for eighteen years, when he removed to
Fayette count}', Iowa, and in 1872 came to Jewell county, Kansas, with
his family, consisting of his wife and five children, namely: Elbridge
(deceased) ; W. R. (deceased) ; Maria, married Oscar Follette, Fairmont,
Minn.; Ed C, subject, and George A., Smith, Center. The father and
motiier spent the remainder of their lives in Jewell county, where the
father died in 1898, aged seventy-one, and the mother departed this life
in 1906, at a similar age. Sylvester Hill served through the Civil war
as a member of Company .\. Forty-ninth regiment, AVisconsin volun-
teer infantry. When the Ilill family settled in Highland township,
Jewell county, where the father homesteaded a claim, there were very
few settlers in the county. Like most of the early comers they endured
many hardships, common to the lot of the hardy pioneers of the times.
The plains abounded in large game, such as buffalo, deer, antelope
and elk.
Ed Hill was educated in the public schools and later took a course in
bookkeeping. He remained on the farm until he was twenty-one years
of age, when he entered the emjjloy of Mann &; Gilbert, at Burr Oak.
as a clerk, and later became their bookkeeper, remaining with them eight
years. He then went to Esbon, Jewell county, where he engaged in the
general mercantile business and was appointed postmaster during Presi-
dent Harrison's administration. When Cleveland was elected Presi-
dent, Mr. Hill resigned llie postmastership at Esbon and returning to
Burr Oak entered the employ of Gilbert Bros. He was with that con-
cern a little over a year when he resigned to close up the affairs of his
brother who had recently died, and who had been in the harness business
several years at Burr Oak. Later Mr. Hill organized the Gilbert Mer-
cantile Company, of that town. On December 24, 1897, he was again
appointed postmaster, this time at Burr Oak, and has held that position
ever since, receiving his last commission in the spring of 1912. Mr.
Hill was united in marriage, April 11, 1882, to Miss Margaret Johnson, of
Concordia, Kan. They have one son, William R., assistant postmaster
at Burr Oak. Mr. Hill has served two terms as mayor of Burr Oak and
is a Republican. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Inde-
pendent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of .\mcrica.
He is one of the substantial and highly resi)ecto<l citizens of Jewell
county.
Frederick S. Macy, one of the leading members of the Seward county
bar, who lives at Liberal, is a fine example of the self-made men of Kan-
sas who have played such an important part in her development, and is
40 BIOGRAPHICAL
to be congratulated upon the rapidity with which he has worked his way
upward to a position of confidence among the men of his community and
gained a reputation which leads to a practice cov-ering several States.
Mr. Macy was born on a farm in Randolph county, Indiana, January 17,
1881, the third son of Charles C. and Elizabeth Stump Macy. The fa-
ther was born in the same county, March 20, 1857, the eldest son of Wil-
liam P. and Dimis Hoagland Macy, also natives of Indiana. John Macy,
the first American ancestor of the family, was an official in Cromwell's
army, which defeated James 11. of England. He came to this country
at an early day, being one of the original purchasers of the Island of
Nantucket. John Winchester !Macy, a great-uncle of Frederick, was cir-
cuit judge of Randolph count}-, Indiana, for fifteen years, resigning just
before his death ; he had served in the Sixtieth Indiana regiment during
the Civil war. Charles C. Macy had one brother and six sisters : Emma,
Effie, Elizabeth, Rose, Sallie and Lula (deceased), and Edward, who is
an inventor, living in Beaver county, Oklahoma. Charles Macy was an
oil operator in western Ohio and eastern Indiana for some years, being
identified with the Standard Oil Company from 1894 to 191 1, when he
removed to Bartlesville, Okla., where he is an oil and gas promoter. Mr.
Macy is a Republican in politics and is a member of the Masonic order.
In 1874 Mr. Macy married Elizabetli Stump at Farmland, Ind., w^ho died
October 3, 1912. She was born in Randolph county, Indiana. July 8,
1S59, the daughter of William Stump, a farmer, who had two sons and
three daughters, one of whom, Laura, is the wife of Dr. Joseph F. Bow-
ers, a noted specialist of Denver, Col. Frederick Macy's parents had
eight children : Walter, born August 7, 1879, is now in business at Ma-
rion, Ohio, married Edna Jones in June, 1912; Claude C, born September
13, 1880, is in the oil business with his father; Frederick S. ; Jessie Opal,
born February 28, 1883, the wife of Guy C. Roush, an automobile dealer
of Peoria, 111.; Hugh Herman, born October 30, 1888, is with his father;
Lulu Emily, born March 20, 1892, teacher, who lives at home ; Paul
Edward, born September 20, 1900, and Joseph, born October 20, 1905.
Frederick Macy was educated in the public schools of Randolph coun-
ty, Indiana, graduating from the Pennville High School with the class
of 1900. While in school the bo}' worked at different occupations to pay
his expenses, as he was ambitious, and determined to secure an education,
which he believed was the best equipment for life. Subsequently he
took a normal course and taught one year, but in 1902 he came west,
locating at Cordell, Okla., where he attended the normal school and
again taught a year. In 1894 he settled in Beaver county, Oklahoma,
on Government land, and while proving up his claim taught school one
year. Having determined upon a professional career, Mr. Macy began
to read law, but in order to make a living he opened uj) the first set of
abstract books in Beaver county, in 1905, at Beaver. A year later he
sold his business and removed to Liberal, Kan., forming a law partner-
BIOGRAPHICAL 4I
ship with Charles R. Wright, who died December i8, 1909. Mr. Macy
was admitted to practice before the Department of the Interior, Wash-
ington, D. C, in 1905, and before the Supreme Court of Kansas, January
23, 1908. His practice has grown rapidly, due to his marked ability as
an attorney, and today he practices in Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado,
New Mexico and Texas. He has cases in the Federal courts of Okla-
homa and Kansas and also before the United States Supreme Court,
being admitted to practice before it in January, 1913. Mr. Macy has a
large law library, which i.s considered the best in the Southwest, and,
considering that he is still a young man, this is unusual. On June 25,
1910, Mr. Macy married jMagdalena. the daughter of H. P. and Catha-
rine Phillips Larrabee, of Liberal. She was born at Joplin, Mo., Sep-
tember 30, 1880, although her father was a native of Canton, Ohio. He
died in 1906. Mrs. Macy is a brilliant woman, being a graduate of a
good business college, and is thoroughly proficient in stenography. She
is now the court stenographer of Texas county, Oklahoma, a difficult
position, which she fills with merit. Mrs. Macy is a typical example of
the Twentieth centur}- business woman.
Alexander G. Davis occupies a leading position in the ranks of the
medical fraternity of Phillips county, and is now enjoying a large and
growing practice in Logan and the surrounding country. He was borr.
near St. Joseph, in Buchanan county, Missouri, .August 9, 1869, the son of
Warren and Lsabel S. Glenn Davis, both natives of Buchanan county, his
grandfathers having been pioneers of that region. On the paternal side
of the family the doctor is descended from Welsh and Scotch ancestors,
while from his mother he inherits strains of pure Irish and Dutch blood,
her ancestors Inning come from Holland and located in Pennsylvania a!
an early day and later became known as Pennsylvania Dutch. W'arrcn
Davis was engaged in farming and stock raising in Missouri and sent his
son to the country schools. While still a lad he determined to study
medicine. Completing the preparatory schools when only seventeen he
entered Northwestern Medical College at St. Joseph, but as the liw
required a student of medicine to be twenty-one years old before lie
graduated. Dr. Davis was required to spend an extra year in study before
the college would confer upon him the degree of Doctor of Medicine.
He was of age in August and graduated with the class of 1S90-91. the
following February, one of the youngest men ever graduated from the
institution. Soon after leaving college the doctor located at .Amazonia,
Mo., opened an office and remained there about a year before going to
St. Joseph, where he opened an office and also engaged in the drug busi-
ness in connection with his practice, having a certificate of pha-macy in
Missouri. In 1892 Dr. Davis came to Logan as one of the pioi'cer phy-
sicians of this region, and he has been actively engaged in profcssicual
work here for over twenty years. \\'hen he first come to Phillips ccunty
the countrv was still new; the |)eople lived far apart, which necessitated
42 niOGRAPIIICAL
long drives in visiting patients, and a doctor had to be courageons <'ind
fearless to face blinding blizzards on the open prairies, or the terrible
heat of the hot summers. Many times Dr. Davis has been caPpd upon
to perform surgical operations with practically no hospital facilities, hut
has had remarkable success, gaining the confidence of the people by his
skill and care. He is registered to practice in Kansas, M's^c nri and
Oklahoma, having been engaged in professional work in all three States.
In 1910-11 Dr. Davis was ^appointed county health officer and physi-
cian ; he is now serving as president of the Phillips County Medical
Society. He is a member of the Masonic order and a Protestant.
On September 14, 1891, the doctor married Aurora Belle, the daughter
of John H. and Martha Elizabeth Thomas, natives of Buchanan county,
Missouri, where the father was engaged in farming and stock rais'ng
until he established a mercantile business at St. Joseph, Mo. hi 1891 he
came to Kansas and settled at Logan. He now lives retired at Norton.
Mr. Thomas enlisted in the Union army during the Civil war and is now
a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. Mrs. Davis wis reared
in Buchanan county, Missouri, where she was educated in the public
schools. There are two children in the Davis family : Beulah Opal, born
July 9, 1892, who received her education from the Logan schools, and
is now the wife of Guy W. Presnell, living at Portis, Kan., and Alex-
ander Paul, born July 7, 1902, attending school at Logan.
James W. Campbell, farmer, banker and stockman, of Dellvale, Kan.,
and pioneer hunter and trapper of the West, was born in Lafayette coun-
t3% Missouri, November 30, 1848, son of Adam Campbell and Sarah E.
(Rankin) Campbell, the former a native of Kentucky and the 'atter of
Tennessee. James Campbell, grandfather of the subject, went to Cali-
fornia before the gold rush of 1849 and made considerable of a fortune in
gold claims. He started home in a boat, but becoming sea sick he
stopped at San Diego and bought Mexican ponies, with which he started
overland. It took him three or four )-ears to get back home, and when
he arrived he had very little monej- left. However, he started the ag-va-
tion to go to California and a party started from Missouri. It was made
up of his relatives — grandfather, father and uncles — who had been early
pioneers in Missouri. They went into winter quarters in Mills county.
Iowa. Here they located, and the father of our subject was the second
settler to receive a deed from the Council Bluffs land office. This was
about 1852. In 1865 James Campbell became a freighter, driving an ox
team over the plains.
On account of poor health our subject came to Kansas, in July. 1873,
for the purpose of buffalo hunting. His health improved and as '.he
people wanted them to locate here he and his brother-in-law, W. Ennis
Pack, put filing papers on the southwest quarter, section 20, and south-
east quarter, section 19, township 3, range 24. Mr. Campbell and Mr.
Pack filed on the land now owned by the former, and went back to Iowa
BIOGRAPHICAL 43
after their families. The Campbells started from Iowa with three mules
and a wagon, but when about forty miles from home one mule went
lame, and after delaying a week with it they were obliged to drive on
with the other two. The overland trip took about four weeks' time, and
they reached their destination October 9, 1873.
Although Mr. Campbell had been through this country only on a
buffalo hunt, he never lost his way a single time and was clever enough
to avoid the up-hill pulls for his team b}- foJlowmg the top of the divide
from a few miles west of Republican City. Xeb., to the Norton and De-
catur 'county line. The night before arriving at their claim they camped
in a log house just east of their destination. In the morning Mrs.
Campbell remarked that someone lived near, as she heard turkeys. But
Mr. Campbell, know^ing that they were wild turkeys, got up and shot
several near the house before dressing. His first filing papers were
dated August i, 1873, and he settled on the southwest quarter of section
20, town 3, range 24. He paid out on this land and bought the southeast
quarter of section 19, town 3, range 24, which his brother-in-law had
filed upon before he went back to Iowa for a visit with his family. \Vhile
Mr. Pack was gone the grasshoppers came and ate up his crops. Hearing
of this he came from Iowa and took everything away, even to the doors
and windows of his sod house. Mr. Campbell met him and traded him a
cow in Iowa for his claim in Kansas.
The family lived in the house where Mr. Campbell shot the turke)'s
until he could build a dug-out on the claim. This dwelling, when com-
pleted, had but one nail in it. It was five feet under ground, with side
logs and three ridge ])oles, on which was laid sticks, over which was
hay, then sod and then fine dirt. The door was a quilt, .\fter moving his
family into it he drove to a place 130 miles away (ten miles east of Be-
loit), where he bought one hundred bushels of corn to feed teams the
next summer while breaking prairie. Having no crib he stored the corn
under the home-made beds in the dug-out. After putting in the corn
he drove 120 miles to Kearne)', Xeb., where he bought flour enough to
last a year. The first year he broke up sixty-five acres of prairie, which
he planted to corn. After trading for the claim of Mr. Pack he put a
timber file on the northeast quarter of section 30, town 3, range 24, mak-
ing three-quarters of a section of land joining together.
As a hunter Mr. Campbell was noted from Kansas to New York. He
was an accurate marksman and scientific in his methods. An old hunter,
Gill Wiley, who with his wife ofen went hunting with Mr. and Mrs.
Campbell, taught Mr. Campbell the science of buffalo huiiling. which is
to never take them by surprise (not to shoot until they have seen you),
shoot as many as you can in the abdomen, which makes them sick, and
then when others of the herd drop back to help the sick ones to shoot
them dead. In this way the herd is not stamjiedcd. Mr. Cam])bell has
often shot two buffaloes with one shot and killed eight out of a herd of
44 BIOGRAPHICAL
nine. The fall that he hiiill his dug-out he killed two buffaloes on Long
Branch, besides a few antelopes and beaver. They lived on buffalo meat
mainly, and he killed game for the whole neighborhood. The first sum-
mer he was in Kansas he went out on a hide hunt with other parties.
They killed about 200 buffaloes, from which they took two wagon loads of
hides, which they took to Wallace and sold. AVallace was 200 miles
away. On July i, about 4 o'clock in the morning, Mr. Campbell left his
companions, John Humphrey and James Maloney, at AVallace and started
for home to attend the Fourth of July dance, traveling across the coun-
try in a northeasterly direction alone and without any roads. He "went
the whole 200 miles without seeing but one person. He and his wife
often went on hunting trips together, taking their two babies with them,
and !Mrs. Campbell is probabh- the only woman now living in Kansas
who has ever shot a buffalo. She was the first person to pull over and
hold down the buffalo now mounted in the Denver, Col , museum. Her
husband had lassoed him b}- both hind legs, but did not dare trust his
horse to hold the buffalo. He was catching the buffalo for William Wil-
son, of New York. He was afraid of the buffalo, but cared for the team
and babies till Mrs. Campbell had tied the animal. They took the hides
to Trego (now Wamego).
In 1874 there was a good prospect for corn, but the grasshoppers took
everything. The first seed wheat cost $2.00 per bushel, and when they
went to thresh they broke down several times and had to go to Fort
Leavenworth for repairs, and it was six months before they finished the
job. In 1876, Mr. Campbell raised 150 acres of wheat and although the
mill offered him $1.35 per bushel for it he held it for the benefit of the
settlers who wanted seed and did not have the nione)' to bu\' it. To
them he either sold it or let it out on shares. The next year there was a
crop failure and he did not receive $100 for the 2,000 bushels he let the
settlers have. In 1877 the Indians raided this section and killed a great
many people. In 1878, Mr. Campbell started a blacksmith shop on his
place and his brother started a store. He made over a hundred ploughs,
but hard years came on and he did not make anything on his plough fac-
tor}'. In 1880 he went to Montana, renting his farm and leaving Mrs.
Campbell and the children in Kansas. He remained in Montana about
eighteen months, hunting, and working at timber cutting for the mines.
He drove a fourteen-mule team hauling ore from Clancey to Wickes
smelters, freighted from Dillon to Bozeman, and hauled 7,000 pounds of
flour and 10,000 pounds of oats from Bozeman to Wickes at one load.
The flour cost at the mill $6.35 per 100, and oats 3 cents a pound. L'pon
his return to Kansas, in 1881. his farm was all grown to weeds, and he
bought an ox team and ploughed it all summer. After this he had several
good years and raised as high as seventy-five bushels of corn to the acre.
In 1877 or 1878 Mr. Camplaell began raising Chester White hogs along
with his cattle, and had the largest drove of hogs in the countrj'. He
BIOGRAPHICAL 45
has always dealt in hop;s and cattle and has made a specialty of Durham
cattle and Poland China hogs. Mr. Campbell has 760 acres of land in his
ranch, all fenced hog-tight, and cross-fenced. In 1906 he had over i,ooo
head of pigs in his pastures. His ranch, which is known as the "Prairie
Dog \'alley Ranch," is one of the finest in the State.
.\t the time of the county seat fight between Leoti and Norton about
the year 1876, Mr. Campbell was very active in the contest, as he owned
an eighth interest in Leoti. He has always been a leader in matters of
public concern, and has helped to finance public service institutions, as
banks, electric light plants, power and cold storage plants, etc. He is a
stockholder in the Electric Light and Power Company, of Norton, and
in the First National Bank, of that city. He has not waited for the
township to build roads in his neighborhood, but has built them for him-
self, and has the finest roads in the county. Lie donated the land for the
school house, which stands on his place. Mr. Campbell was captain of
the Norton county militia, commissioned under Governor Osborne at the
time of the Indian scare in the country ; has served as township trustee
and member of the school board of his district ; has been a member of
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in good standing since 1872, is
a member of the Grand Lodge and has a gold medal for a twenty-five-
year membership. In politics he is a Democrat. His father and mother
are both living, the former ninety-two years of age and the latter eigthy-
eight. They live with their children, but have a good farm in Norton
county, Kansas.
Mr. Campbell was married November 29, 1867, to Julia P. Pack, daugh-
ter of Rufus and Jane (Robinson) Pack, the former a native of New York
anfl the latter of Michigan. Mr. Pack was engaged in farming and stock
raising. Mrs. Campbell was born in a "prairie schooner" in Fremont
county. Iowa, and was raised in Mills county, attending the common
schools. Her father was killed by a mowing machine in Iowa, and her
mother died while in I 'tali. Mr. and Mrs. Campbell have had four chil-
dren : Marry Eddie, born October 13, 1869, died December 12 of that
3'ear ; William Nelson, born June 20, 1871 ; Rosetta Ellen, born January
6, 1874, married C. L. Davis and had one child, Ray E. Davis, died De-
cember 20, 1894; Aurora Bertha, born December 25, 1887, married LTarry
Cope and lives in Norton county. They have two children, Clctus Leone
Cope and Lyle Cope.
Lester M. Parker, a |)rMniincnt attorney of Oberlin, and editor of the
leading newspaper in Decatur county, was born in Wyandot county,
Ohio, .\pril 3, 1870, son of E. L. and Martha (Harvey) Parker, natives
of Ohio, where the father of our subject was engaged in farming and
stock raising. Here young Parker was reared and began his early edu-
cation, at the same time assisting in the farm work. When he was
sixteen years of age his parents moved to Kansas and took a homestead
in Rawlins county, two miles north of the present site of .\chilles. The
46' BIOGRAPHICAL
first Kansas home was a one-room sod, with dirt roof and floor, in
marked contrast to their nine-room modern home left in the Buckeye
State. Lester broke eighty acres of sod with an ox team, along with
other work on the claim. The first school he attended in Kansas stood
on the present site of Achilles, which, too, was a soddy. with dirt floor
and roof. The seats were ash logs with wooden pins set in for legs, under
which rested the books and slates.
After completing the common school Mr. Parker came to Oberlin,
where he entered the high school, in 1889. While here his parents moved
to Cheyenne count}', Colorado, and started a stock ranch. Our subject,
without funds, relied upon his own merits and succeeded in working his
way through high school, graduating with honor in the spring of 1893.
The following fall he began his career as a teacher, as principal of
schools at Cheyenne Wells, Col. After five years' success in this school
and after establishing a high school at this place, he was elected county
assessor of the county, and while holding the position he attended Den-
ver University at Denver, Col., as a student in the law department. In
the organization of the legal fraternity of the school Lester was selected
second choice of the facult}' as a charter member of the Phi Delta Phi
from a large enrollment of students from man)' States. While in college
he was appointed clerk of the court by Judge Campbell, who, a short
time later, was made justice of the Supreme Court of Colorado. This
clerkship Mr. Parker held for three years, when he returned to Kansas
and began the practice of law, in 1903. In 1904 he was elected county
attorney of Decatur county, being reelected in 1906. This was a period
of "law enforcement"' in the State of Kansas, and Mr. Parker made an
unusual record. Of the many criminal cases brought he never lost one
in the district court, and many of them were hard-fought cases for the
violation of the prohibitory liquor law. For the first time in the history
of the count}', jointists and bootleggers were put out of business. The
following election he was selected by his party as a candidate for the
legislature. He ran far ahead of the ticket, but was defeated owing to
the Democratic landslide of that year.
After retiring from office he formed a partnership with Judge Geiger
and conducted a successful law business. In 1908 a company was
formed that bought the Oberlin" "Times" from L. G. Parker, and the
Times Publishing Company was formed, with our subject as business
manager. A short time later he bought out the other stockholders, and in
addition to his law practice, he edits and owns the Oberlin. "Times." He is
a member of the executive committee of the Sons and Daughters of Jus-
tice, which position he has held since 1909. He has always been a loyal
Republican, has served his party at various times as secretary and chair-
man of the county central committee, and has been honored by his party
on several occasions as delegate to district and State conventions.
On November 30 Mr. Parker was married to Ella Josephine Colvin,
BIOGRAPHICAL 47
daughter of II. D. and Frances (Pelton) Colvin, natives of Illinois, where
Mr. Colvin was engaged in farming and stock raising. The Colvins
came to Decatur county in 1878 and took a homestead on Ash draw, nine
miles southwest of Oberlin. Their first home was a one-room building,
made of native logs. In this building Mr. Colvin successfully defended
his family when surrounded by three hundred bloodthirsty warriors
during the murderous Indian raid. After several Indians were killed or
wounded and driven from the scene Mr. Colvin loaded his family in the
lumber wagon and started for Oberlin. Several dead neighbors were
picked up by them on the way and taken to town. The next day Mr.
Colvin, with a few assistants, went out and gathered up the rest of the
dead, thirteen in all, and returned with their bodies to town.
Mrs. Parker was born in Cook county, Illinois, June 16, 1872, and re-
ceived her education in the common and high schools of Decatur county.
She, too, graduated from the high school, in 1893, being a classmate of
Mr. Parker. They were married the year following their graduation.
Five children have been born to this union : Pearlc C, Leslie T., Francis
M. (deceased), Martha E. and Mary E. Pearle, while staying with his
grandparents, the Colvins, at St. Cloud, Fla., graduated from the public
schools at the head of a large class, while Leslie is a sixth grader in
Oberlin, Kan. Martha is three years of age and Mary, one.
Fernando Wood Gaunt, banker, capitalist, and a leading representative
of the commercial and industrial interests of Alton, has not only devel-
oped the business interests of Osborne county, but of Smith and Phillips
counties as well. Mr. Gaunt represents the type of men who are play-
ing an important part in the development of this great State, for today
tiie conquests are not of arms, but of business, of commercial prosperity
and the consequent improvements in all walks of life. The conqueror of
today is the man who successfully establishes, controls and operates ex-
tensive commercial interests, and Mr. Gaunt has become an important
factor in the business life of north central Kansas. lie was born on a
farm in Mercer county, Illinois, December 15. 1863, the son of Jonathan
and Emily Damp Gaunt. The father was born in Sheffield, England,
February 14, 1839, being descended from Lord Gaunt, of England. Jona-
than Gaunt came to the United States in 1849 a'""^' located in Mercer coun-
ty, Illinois, where he engaged in farming, living very quietly. Mr. Gaunt
is a member of the Masonic order. There were eight children in the fam-
ily, five of whom are living: Cicero B., now in business at Wichita,
Kan. ; Lorenzo D., a lumber and grain merchant at Gushing, Okla. ; Eliza,
the wife of Bert Vannatti, a farmer in Rock Island county. Illinois: Al-
bert, a farmer of Mercer county. Illinois, and Fernando W.. who was edu-
cated in the public schools of Mercer county and at the International
Business College, of Davenport, Iowa, where he graduated in 1885.
After a short time at home Mr. Gaunt came to Kansas, locating in
Warwick, where he was engaged as a bookkeeper in a grain office. A
48 BIOGRArUICAL
3-ear later he left Warwick for Alton to become the manager of an ele-
vator, and three years later bought an interest in the firm, which became
known as F. W. Gaunt & Company, of Alton. In 1905 the firm was
incorporated under the name of the F. W. Gaunt Grain Company, with
elevators in Alton, Kirwin and Claudell. Mr. Gaunt is the dominating
factor in the concern, which he has practically built up himself. As early
as 1893 Mr. Gaunt began to branch out and in that year organized the
F. \\'. Gaunt Lumber Company, of Alton, of which he is the secretary,
treasurer and manager. In April, 1906, he organized the Gaunt Imple-
ment Company, of Kirwin, Kan., which he still owns and manages.
From first locating in this State, Mr. Gaunt has been interested in all im-
provements for his community and was interested in the first and only
telephone system established in Alton, December 6, 1900. Mr. Gaunt has
believed in the future of Kansas land and is the owner of several well im-'
proved farms in Osborne county. On April 2, 1912, Mr. Gaunt became
the president of the First State Rank of Alton, in which he had been
interested for several years. In this banking business Mr. Gaunt is
carrying on the same conservative policy which he applied to his busi-
ness, and today has the confidence, not only of the community in which
he lives, but of the surrounding country. He is popular, personally, has
a host of friends and supporters, who believe in his word as in his bond.
Politically, Mr. Gaunt is a Democrat, but has never sought public office,
other than as mayor of Alton, an office which he has filled wnth merit
ten years. He is a member of the Masonic order, and today owns one
of the modern homes of Alton, Osborne county. On November 9, 1890,
Mr. Gaunt married Stella E., the daughter of Jacob O. and Caroline M.
Job Franks. Mrs. Gaunt was born at Shreve, Ohio, March 22, 1871, and
accompanied her parents v\dien they came to Kansas, in 1881. Mr.
Franks was a farmer and stockman, who died in Sulphur, Iowa, in 1901,
where his widow still resides. There are four charming girls in the Gaunt
family: Marvel, born .Vugust 11. 1891. now the wife of Frank R. Wil-
liams; Marjorie, born January 24, 1902, and Marie and Madge, twins,
born February 16, 1908.
Frank Pitts MacLennan, editor and proprietor of the Topeka "State
Journal," and one of the best known newspaper men in Kansas, is a
native of the T'.uckeye State, born in Springfield, Ohio, March i, 1855.
He began his business career in his native town by carrying papers, and
his early association with the press in this humble capacity doubtless
had some influence in shaping his subsequent career. In 1870 his par-
ents, Kenneth and Adelia M. (Bliss) MacLennan, removed to Kansas
and settled in Lyon county. After a thorough preparation he entered the
University of Kansas, at Lawrence, and in 1875 received the degree
of Bachelor of Science from that institution, and the degree of Master
of Science about a dozen years later. His active work as a newspaper
man began with the Em])oria "News," in 1877, where he was employed
BIOGRAPHICAL 49
as mailer, bookkeeper, clerk, reporter, and all-round utility man. Me
remained with the "News" for several years, becoming associate editor
and business manager. On March i, i88o, he acquired a proprietary
interest in the paper, which interest he held for five years, when he
learned that the Topcka "State Journal" was ordered to be sold by the
receivers. He disposed of his interest in the "News," and failing to se-
cure the "State Journal" property at private sale, bought the paper at
auction, assuming control on October 30, 1883. -'^t that time the entire
circulation of the "State Journal" was about 800 copies daily. Within five
years, through his diligence and executive ability, the circulation was
more than ten times that number. With an optimism born of confidence
in his ability, he recently acquired three additional lots adjoining the
"State Journal" building on the south, with the view of erecting a new
building thereon whenever the paper should outgrow its old quarters
at the southeast corner of Eighth street and Kansas avenue. His hope
has been realized, and early in 1912 plans for the new building were
completed. When the new quarters are ready for occupancy, Mr.
MacLennan will have one of the most modern and best equipped news-
paper plants in the Middle West. Concerning the "State Journal" a
recent writer saj's : "It is all his and it is all clear, and if he keeps up
for twenty years longer he will be independently rich, because he works
hard and pays as he goes, stands by his friends through thick and thin,
and does not lie or steal. If any boy will follow these rules he can be
decently well-to-do, but he will find that it is rather a harder job than it
looks."
The job may have looked hard to Mr. MacLennan, but if so he has
never shown evidences of being discouraged. Industry and determina-
tion are his chief characteristics, and by the exercise of these traits
he has overcome obstacles that to a weaker nature might have seemed
insurmountable. It may be said that he has had the financial support of
wealthy friends in emergencies, but it must be remembered that men
of high financial standing do not give support to the unwortliy, and the
friends who extended aid to him when he needed it did so with full
confidence in his ability and integrity, knowing the loan would be
appreciated and repaid. In 1903 Mr. MacLennan visited Europe and
while on his trip wrote a series of letters for his paper. These letters
were published under the caption of "Five Weeks Abroad" and were
widely read. With the true journalistic instinct he saw many things
that would have been overlooked by the average tourist, hence his let-
ters contained many interesting facts and much valuable information
not to be found in ordinary letters or books of travel.
On May 29. 1890, Mr. MacLennan married Mi.ss .Anna Goddard. of
Emporia, Kan., and they have one daughter, Mary, one of the popular
and accompli.'^hed young ladies of Topeka. Mrs. MacLennan is an
intellectual, cultured woman, thoughtful and considerate of the welfare
50 BIOGRAPHICAL
of Others, and her home is the popular center of a large circle of friends.
In addition to his property in the clt_v, Mr. MacLennan is the owner of
a farm of lOO acres on "Martin's Hill," six miles west of the city of To-
peka. On this farm, which is known as "Cedarcrest," he spends a great
deal of his time during the summer months and entertains his friends at
all seasons of the )'ear. Here he keeps cows, giving his family a supply
of pure milk, cream and butter, raises poultry and vegetables, and finds
relaxation from the busy cares of the city. On the farm is a tract of
twenty-five acres of timber, and he has constructed a fish-pond of two
acres in extent, where he raises some fine bass. Walt Mason, the Em-
poria poet, recently made "Cedarcrest" the subject of one of his rhymes,
to-wit :
"The sun was rising in the west, and shed its beams on Cedarcrest,
where pensive goat and sportive cow were perched upon the cedar
bough. There Frank MacLennan watched his flocks, and slugged the
gentle sheep with rocks, and drove his hens to lakelet's brim, that they
might dive, and bathe and swim. The pigs were climbing elms and firs,
the hired man gathered cockleburs ; a doctor passed on horse's back and
all the ducks called loudly : 'Quack !' The fruit-tree agent asked to
stay all night; the horses whinnied 'Neigh!' Peace hovered o'er the
prairied wide ; the cattle lowed, the horses highed ; and sounded through
the village smoke, the bark of watchdog, elm and oak. And he who owned
these rustic scenes had seeded down his farm to beans."
Politically, Mr. ^[acLennan classes himself as an independent Repub-
lican, and along those lines he has made the "State Journal'' a power
for good in the political affairs of the State. Notwithstanding he is
a busy man in connection with his private business, he has found time to
devote to the commonwealth and to the upbuilding of his adopted city.
He is vice-president of the Associated Press ; is a member of the Adver-
tising Commercial, Topeka and Country clubs: president of the Satur-
day Night Club and belongs to the Beta Theta Pi college fraternity.
One who knows him well has this to say of his general character : "Per-
sonally Frank MacLennan is one of the warmest-hearted men in the
world. In sickness, disaster, distress or death, the man who works on
the "State Journal" is the recipient of substantial assistance when neces-
sary, and at all times the subject of quiet, kindly interest."
Perry Hutchinson. — To the miller of Kansas the name of Perry
Hutchinson is as familiar as that of George A\"ashington to the school
boy. His is the distinction of having built the first flour mill in the
State of Kansas west of the Missouri river, and of having milled the
first roller process flour in the State. A resident of Marysville since 1859,
he has been an active participant in practically every phase of her de-
velopment. He is one of the distinctively representative men of Kansas,
and although in his eightieth year his mental and physical vigor is that
of the average man of sixty, and he still manages in person his large and
BIOGRAPHICAL 5I
varied interests. He is president of the First National Bank of Marys-
ville, is Marshall county's largest cattle feeder and operates one of the
finest farms in the State. Perry Hutchinson is a native of the Empire
State and was born at Fredonia, Chautauqua county, December 2, 1831,
a son of Calvin and Sophia (Perry) Hutchinson. His ancestors, maternal
and paternal, were among the early settlers of America, and numbered
among them all men who have achieved distinction in the town, State
and Nation. Elijah Hutchinson, grandfather of Perry, and a cousin of
Governor Hutchinson, of Massachusetts, was a pioneer settler of Che-
nango county. New York, and there was born his son, Calvin. Sophia
Perry was a daughter of Col. Sullivan Perry, who in 1812 was in com-
mand of an American ship of war which sunk a Piritish vessel off Dun-
kirk, N. Y. Colonel Perry was a first cousin of Commodore Perry, who
won the famous naval victorv at Put-in-Bay, Lake Erie, in the War
of 1812.
Perry Hutchinson was reared on his father's farm and attended the
public schools, and later the Fredonia .\cademy. On attaining his ma-
jority, in 1852, he sought an opportunity to gain his fortune in the
West. He journeyed to Wisconsin and secured employment with the
logging firm of McAdoo & Schuter, one of the largest operators of that
time. Pie was soon made foreman of their rafting crew, a position of
importance, requiring nerve, the ability to handle men, and iniative.
He drove several large rafts of logs from the Wisconsin river to St.
Louis and concluded the marketing as well, drawing a salary of $8 per
da}'. When winter made driving on the river impossible he returned
to his old home in New York, where he remained until the spring of
1853, when he went west to Iowa and purchased a farm in Linn county,
near Cedar Rapids, and engaged in farming. In 1857 he built, in Vin-
ton county, a saw and flour mill, which he operated successfully until
1859, when, through the defalcation of a partner, he was forced to give
up his entire propert,v to satisfy creditors of the firm. He purchased,
on credit, a pair of horses and a wagon and, with his wife and children,
came to Kansas. He reached Marysvillc, Marshall county, October 3,
1859, and secured employment as a harvest hand. He found time to fill
his larder with buffalo meat, his family's chief article of diet for about
five months, tea, coffee and sugar being unknown to them. The following
year he took a claim, seven miles east of Marysville, and on it built
a small cabin, which he utilized as a hotel and stage stop. While here
he made the acquaintance of the superintendent of the Holliday Stage
Line, a Mr. Lewis, and through him secured the lease of the Barrett
House at Marysville and funds to operate it. In July, 1862, he organ-
ized Company E, Thirteenth Kansas infantry, and was elected its captain.
The company was mustered into service at .Atchison in .August, 1862.
Captain Hutchinson served until the fall of 1863, when he received his
discharge on account of illness. In the spring of 1864 he secured the
52 BIOGRAPHICAL
water power rights on Blue river, one and one-half miles west of
Marysville. There he built a sawmill and in it was sawed all the lum-
ber used in the building the stations of the Holliday Stage Line, between
Marysville and Denver. Tn the fall of the same year he built, opposite
his sawmill, the first flour mill to be erected west of the Missouri river.
His product was sold as far east as Lawrence and wheat was brought
by the growers for a radius of 150 miles. His first step toward the
accumulation of a fortune occurred through his securing from Strickler
& Streator, railroad contractors of Junction City, a contract to supply
their camps with flour. He was the successful bidder, at S7.75 per sack
of ninety-eight pounds, twelve other firms contesting. This contract
covered the flour used by Strickler & Streator while building the l^'nion
Pacific railroad from Junction City to Denver, and from it Mr. Hutch-
inson realized a net profit of about $25,000. In 1881 the mill was com-
pletely remodeled and rolls were installed, the first mill in Kansas to
be so equipped. For nearly fifty years the Hutchinson mill has been
operated by one man and its products are known for the high standard
maintained. For many years the output has been sold principally to
the large baking concerns, St. Louis being the chief market, and a busi-
ness totaling $400,000 per annum is done. In 1880 Mr. Hutchinson
became interested in banking. He was one of the founders of the
Marshall County Bank, which was succeeded, in 1882, by the First Na-
tional Bank of IMarysville, of which J. A. Smalley, Samuel A. and Edgar
R. Futon and himself were the principal organizers. He became presi-
dent of the institution, in 1893, and has remained in that position since.
The bank is the leading financial institution of Marshall county. It has
a capital of $75,000, an earned surplus of $50,000, undivided profits of
$20,000, and average deposits of $450,000. While not an active execu-
tive in the administration of the business of this institution, Mr. Hutchin-
son is favorably known to the banking fraternity. He is recognized
as an able and discriminating financier and his connection with a finan-
cial institution is a guaranty of safe, sane and conservative manage-
ment. He has purchased from time to time several tracts of the choicest
farm land in Marshall county, which he operates personally, and in
this work finds his recreation. He is the most extensive cattle feeder
in the county and his 600-acre farm near his mill site is one of the best
examples of scientific agriculture to be found in the State. His political
allegiance has been given to the Republican party. He was elected
to the State senate in 1880 and served with honor and distinction. He
was a member of the committee on ways and means and was chairman
of that on State institutions. He was appointed, in 1876, by Governor
Martin one of a committee of three, which included the late Eugene
Ware, to represent Kansas at the Centennial Jubilee, held in New York
City. He was a delegate to the Republican National conventions which
nominated James '.\. Garfield and Tames G. Blaine for the Presidencv.
BIOGRAPHICAL 53
He has attained the Knight Templar degree in Masonry, and is the nestor
of the Kansas Millers' Association.
Mr. Hutchinson was married December 19, 1855, to Miss Lydia Jean-
nette, daughter of Champlin Barber, a farmer of Chautauqua county, New
York. They are the parents of three children : Frank W". is a retired
merchant at Marysville ; Wallace W. is superintendent of the Hutchin-
son mill, and Etta Viola is the wife of Harry Koetch, of Sturges, S. D.
Mr. Hutchinson is a high type of the virile, active American, diligent
in his duties and commercial affairs and conscientious in all things.
At the age of eighty, with mental and physical powers practically unim-
paired, he is one of the sturdy figures which span the time from the
pioneer days of the State to those of the present — from the days of the
Indian and the buffalo to those of the automobile and airship — and is
still on the firing land and in command. He has been a tireless and
ambitious worker and has realized a large and substantial success b}
methods clean, capable and honest. His accumulations represent th<
pluck, energy and brain of a man who has been able to know the
knock of opportunity and avail himself of it. The writer is persuaded
to believe that northern Kansas does not possess a man who can claim
as many sincere friendships or whose reputation for honesty, honor
able living and broadness of mind and heart will exceed that of Perr'
Hutchinson.
George B. Crandall, Jewell, Kan. — When Mr. Crandall. whose namo
introduces this sketch, came to Kansas, in 1869, the central and western
parts of the State were practically as the hand of the Creator had left
them. Man, except as a scout and hunter, had made few imprints upon
this vast field of nature, lying along the border of civilization. The
conditions that existed at that time, as compared with those of today, are
almost beyond the comprehension of the student of local history. The
men who pushed forward into the borderland reclaimed the prairie and
made Kansas what it is today were made of the right kind of material.
George B. Crandall has earned a rating in that class. He was born at
Perry, Wyoming county. New York, November 17, 1841, and is a son of
Peter and Lucretia (Bullock) Crandall, natives of eastern New York
and of New England ancestry. In 1858 the Crandall family removed
from Wyoming county, New York, to Van Buren county. Michigan, and
afterwards removed to St. Joseph county, Michigan, where the father
died at the age of eighty-three. The mother died in Van Buren
county, Michigan. They were the parents of four children, viz.: Ro-
mclia married Silas M. Rawson, Wyoming county, New York, both
now deceased; Leonard resides at Paw Paw, Mich.; Alferd. Mendon,
Mich., and George B. Young Crandall remained at home with his par-
ents, leading the peaceful life of the average country boy, until the great
Civil war had become a stern reality. Then in answer to his country's
call, he enlisted in Company D, Nineteenth regiment. Michigan volun-
54 BIOGRAPHICAL
teer infantry, which was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland. They
did service in the western campaigns in Kentucky and Tennessee, and
at the organization of the army preparatory to Sherman's march to
the sea this regiment was assigned to the Twentieth army corps, tak-
ing part in that memorable military expedition, during which time they
were under almost constant fire for weeks at a time. Mr. Crandall
was twice taken prisoner during his period of military service, but on
both occasions had plenty of good company, which might have had a
tendency to relieve the gloom of the situation. At Thompson Station,
Tenn., his entire brigade was captured at the close of a desperate engage-
ment after their ammunition was exhausted. They were taken to Libby
military prison, but were exchanged in about a month. His next misfor-
tune of war happened while his company was engaged in guarding a
bridge across Stone river. After a fierce fight, in which this one com-
pany held out against General Wheeler's command, they were finally
taken prisoners, but were held only a few hours after being disarmed and
plundered. At the close of Sherman's march to the sea the command to
which Mr. Crandall was attached proceeded through the Carolinas and
to Washington and took part in the grand review. At the close of the
war Mr.' Crandall returned to his Michigan home very much impaired
in health, and for years was a physical wreck. In 1860 he came to
Manhattan, Ivan., where he secured employment in a drug store as
clerk for Dr. Whitehorn, having had previous experience in that line.
He soon became a partner in the business and remained there until 1872,
when he came to Jewell county and located at Jewell City, which was
still new. There were not more than a dozen buildings on the town site.
Mr. Crandall had previously located a homestead just west of the town
site, which he still owns. He opened a drug store in a small frame build-
ing on the west side of the square with a sjnall stock of drugs. This
was the first drug store in Jewell City. Shortly after he began business
here his stock was nearly all destroyed by a cyclone, but he replenished
it and started again. His business continued to grow and he prospered,
and in a short time built a larger store. Later, when the business dis-
trict began to move eastward, he bought property and moved on the
east side of the square, where the Crandall drug store is now located.
Here he continued to carry on business until 1907, when he sold out to
his son, Aretas, and L. J. Schmitt, who now conduct the business.
Mr. Crandall was married. May i, 1871. to Miss Mary C. Barker. They
have two children. Caroline married William A. Pierce, now deceased.
She resides at Jewell. The second child, Aretas, succeeded his father in
business, as above mentioned. He married Miss Bertha Cheney, of Jewell
City, a daughter of \\'il!iam Cheney, a prominent merchant of Jewell
City and a member of the firm of J. D. Robertson Mercantile Com-
pany. Mary C. Barker was born in Lovell, Ale., and is a daughter of
Col. Elden and Caroline E. (Little) Barker, natives of Maine. The Bar-
BIOGRAPHICAL 55
ker famih- came to Manhattan, Kan., from Norway, Me., in 1869, and
Colonel Barker and wife were among the pioneer settlers of Jewell coun-
ty, having located on a homestead near Jewell City in 1870. They were
the parents of eleven children. Colonel Barker was a surveyor and was
engaged on the construction of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railroad,
and also did considerable surveying after coming to Jewell county. He
was elected to the State senate in 1872, the first State senritor from the
county. He was a notary public and administered the official oath to the
first set of county officers of Jewell county. He died July 8, 1896, aged
eighty years, and his wife departed this life March 22, 1908, at the ripe old
age of eigty-four. George B. Crandall is one of the substantial men of
business affairs of central Kansas. The mere fact that he has sold his
drug business does not mean that he has ceased to have business inter-
ests. He is president of the Jewell Lumber Company, of which he is the
heaviest stockholder; director in the Jewell County Telephone Company;
vice-president and director in the First National Bank of Jewell, and he
is extensively interested in Kansas land, owning several hundred acres.
He is public spirited and takes a keen interest in the welfare of the com-
munity where he resides. During the last five years Mr. and Mrs. Crand-
dall have spent a great deal of time in travel, spending their winters in
Florida and California. He is a member of the S. R. Deach post. Grand
Army of the Republic, of which he is past commander. He is also a
member of the Ancient Order of L'nited Workmen. Politically he has
always been a Republican, but has never aspired to hold office.
John O'Laughlin, of Lakin. Kan., was born in County Clare, Ireland,
June 24, 1842, son of Peter and Margaret (Considine) O'Laughlin.
Peter O'Laughlin died in Ireland about 1846. He and Mrs. O'Laughlin
were the parents of four sons and one daughter — Michael, Bridget, John,
Peter and Thomas. Peter and Bridget died in Ireland. The other chil-
dren came with their mother to America in 1850, locating at Dubuque,
Iowa. In 1858 John went to Minnesota, where he drove a team for one
year, and then removed to St. Joseph, Mo., and followed the same occu-
pation until 1861, when he came to Jefferson county, Missouri. Here
he worked on a farm and was also in the employ of the Government
as teamster in the department of quartermaster at Fort Leavenworth,
and was wagonmasler for eight years. He left the Government service
at Fort Hays, Kan., December i, 1869. While doing this work he was in
many important frontier expeditions and had many interesting expe-
riences as well as meeting with many hardships. He often lived on
buffalo meat and killed a great many of these animals. In December,
1869, he opened a trading post on the military road between Fort Dodge
and Fort Hays, doing business with soldiers, buffalo hunters and freight-
ers. During the two years which he operated this store he handled a
great deal of business, but closed out when the Santa Fe railroad was
iDuilt through that part of the country, in 1872. He then went to Dodge
56 BIOGRAPHICAL
«
City, where he opened a boarding house. The next year he removed to
Lakin, just after the Santa Fe road had been completed to that point. In
a dug-out he opened the first store in town. For six years he traded with
buffalo hunters, freighters and plainsmen. The same business is now
owned by his sons, W. D. and J. C. O'Laughlin. Mr. O'Laughlin owns
much valuable city property in Lakin and a number of well improved
alfalfa farms in the Arkansas valley. He is the pioneer citizen of Kearney
county, wealthy, and prominent as a Catholic.
February 5, 1882, his marriage to Miss Mary Farrell, daughter of Den-
nis and Bridget (Gogerty) Farrell, took place. She is a cultured woman,
born of Irish parents at Xenia, Ohio, May 14, i860. Her father died
January 5, 1910, at Wilson, Kan., where her mother still lives. Seven
children were born of this union : Margaret B., born September 27, 1883,
is single and lives at home; William D., born February 3, 1885, is a
merchant at Lakin : Mary C, born 1886, lives at home ; John C, born
July 18, 1888, a merchant at Lakin; Jennie Rose, born Xoveinber 4,
1892. a teacher; Helen G., born August 21, 1897, ^nd Thomas J., born
April 12, 1900. Mr. O'Laughlin has until recently been an extensive
stock raiser. Although practically retired he is still interested in many
local enterprise?.
James O. Ellsworth. — The subject of this review, who is a prominent
farmer and stock raiser in Jewell county, an honest, honorable and pro-
gressive citizen, patriotic in his motives and straightforward in his
methods, was born in Sinclair township, Jewell county, Kansas, June 29,
1871, the son of .Albert W. and ^Liry Dudley Ellsworth. His father was
a native of Vermont and his mother of Ohio, but on the paternal side
Mr. Ellsworth traces his lineage back through Revolutionary ancestry to
France. The first American ancestors of the Ellsworth family came to
this country with Lafayette, when he came from France with aid for
the thirteen colonies, at a time when the American cause w'as in sore
need of assistance. Albert W. Ellsworth was a cabinet maker by trade.
"n 1870 he came to the Sunflower State, taking land in Jewell county,
Ivhere James was born. Kansas was the frontier in the early '70s and
the Ellsworth homestead was never quite safe from Indian depredations
and raids. Albert Ellsworth took an active part in the defense of his
home against the Indians in the fight at White Rock Creek ; he was
one of the first officers of the county and continued to take an inter-
ested and active part in public life until his death in October, 1885.
James Ellsworth began his education in the public schools of Jewell
county, subsequently graduating from the Formoso High School. For
one year he took higher academic training at the Salina Normal School
to prepare himself for a teacher, which vocation he followed eleven
years, during two of which he acted as principal of the Lovewell schools.
An open outdoor life had always appealed to Mr. Ellsworth, and having
been reared on a farm he turned to agricultural pursuits. Starting with
BIOGRAPHICAL 57
an eigln}-acre farm, by good management, ihrift and economy, he has
added to the original home until he now owns 240 acres of the finest
farming land in Jewell county. From the beginning Mr. Ellsworth spe-
cialized in thoroughbred stock, making a specialty of Diiroc hogs and
Short Horn cattle. In addition to raising stock he has traded in cattle
and hogs, but has gained such a wide reputation for the standard of his
live stock that he disposes of all at private sale. Mr. Ellsworth is a
member of the Duroc Association, holding stock in that concern, as well
as in the First National P>ank of Formoso and the telephone company, of
which he was the first secretary. For years he has been active in all
township affairs, having held the offices of clerk and treasurer. Having
been progressive in ideas and methods, working for the benefit of the
c< immunity, Mr. Ellsworth has gained many friends, and at the present
time is a candidate for county commissioner on the Democratic ticket,
at the earnest solicitations of his many friends and supporters, who per-
suaded him to make the race. He is a popular member of the following
fraternal organizations : The Masonic order. Modern W'oodmen of Amer-
ica, Eastern Star, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
On March 8, 1896, Mr. Ellsworth was united in marriage with Rosa
A., the daughter of Edgar E. and Eleanor Walker. They were natives
of Wisconsin, who came to I'Cansas in 1871, locating in Grant township,
where Mrs. Ellsworth was born, December 2, 1877. Her father, like so
iTian\- of the early settlers, engaged in farming and stock raising, so that
she grew up on the farm, attending the public schools, and later graduat-
ing from the high school at Narka. Republic county. The fathers of both
Mr. and Mrs. Ellsworth enlisted in the army at the call for volunteers
at the opening of the Civil war. Mr. Ellsworth enlisted at Chicago
under Col. Elmer Ellsworth, who was his cousin, and .served during the
entire war. Nine children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Ellsworth —
Xita G., Vernon, Ruth .\.. Clair E., J. Orville, Marion, Josephine O..
Milford D. and FVancis D. Nita is attending the high school, but with the
exception of Milford and Francis, all the other children are attending the
same school their father did when a boy. All the family are members
of the Methodist Episcopal church.
C. S. Kenney, of Norton, Kan., a physician of State-wide reputatinn,
and the recently appointed superintendent of the State Tuberculosis San-
atorium of Newton, was born at Saranac, Mich., April 22. 1877, son of
Alexander and Lois L. (Kimball) Kenney, the former a native of New
York and the latter of Vermont. .Alexander Kenney was a farmer and
stock raiser, and our subject attended the country schools, working
on the farm with his parents during vacations. He graduated from the
Saranac High School with the class of 1895, a^^tcr wh,ich he taught
school for two years and then took the college preparatory course at
Ferris Institute. P.ig Rapids, Mich. After five months' preparatory work
he entered the Detroit College of Medicine, in Detroit, Mich., in 1898,
58 BIOGRAPHICAL
graduating in 1902 with ihe degree of Doctor of Medicine. While at-
tending college he worked to pay half his expenses.
After leaving college Dr. Kenney came to Kansas and located at Nor-
catur, where he practiced eight years, and in 1910 located at Norton and
is enjoying a good practice in that town. He is a member of the State
and American Medical associations, of the Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons, the Order of Eastern Star, the Modern Woodmen of America,
the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Court of Honor, and has
been county health officer for three years. He spent five months
studying the spread of tuberculosis for the State Board of Health, visit-
ing sixty-five counties. Having recently been appointed superintendent
of the State Tuberculosis Sanatorium at Newton, Kan., he will be located
in that city in the future.
Dr. Kenney's success in life is largely the result of strenuous early
efforts. His father died when he was two ^ears old and his mother
raised the family. He walked three miles each morning and evening
while going to high school, and was never late a single morning and
never out except on account of sickness. He worked in a wholesale
house in order to finish his education.
The marriage of Dr. Kenney to Lola M. Corns took place May 20,
1904. Mrs. Kenney was born in Indiana, January 12, 1882, daughter of
Dr. C. V. and Castillie (Le Count) Corns, natives of Indiana, who moved
to Kansas in 1886. Here Dr. Corns practiced his profession and Lola
Corns attended the common schools of Norcatur and later the Norton
County High School at Norton. Dr. and Mrs. Kenney have two chil-
dren : Grey A., born December 30, 1905, and Helen C, born July 23, 1910.
C. G. Page, a cattle dealer of Norton, Kan., was born at Monmouth,
\\'arren county, Illinois, October 8, 1852. son of A. B. and Rebecca
(Thompson) Page, the former a native of New Hampshire, and the lat-
ter of Ohio. A. B. Page was engaged in the live stock business and our
subject attended the country schools, later spending two years in the
academy at Kewanee, 111. L^pon leaving school he went to work as
brakeman on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad, beginning Oc-
tober 8, 1871, just at the time of the Chicago fire, and remaining one year,
when he went back to the farm. In the spring of 1873 he came to Kansas,
traveling as far as Lowell. Neb., by railroad, from which point he walked
and rode with freighters the rest of the way, arriving in this State with
but five cents in stamps, and a total stranger to everybody. He took the
homestead on which he now lives.
Mr. Page's early experiences in Kansas are interesting. He spent his
first night at a place where there were no beds and everybody had to
sleep on the floor. A man who had been in a shooting scrape loaned him
his overcoat and in the night Mr. Page turned over against the stove
and burned a hole in the coat. He was frightened, for the thought the
man would kill him. In those days everybody who could do so carried
BIOGRAPHICAL 59
guns, on account of there being so man}- antelope and buffalo in the
country. From April to October one couldn't look in any direction with-
out seeing thousands of buffalo, and there were plenty of Indians in this
section at that time. Mr. Page was here when the Indians massacred the
white people on the Sappa, and the settlers came into town for protec-
tion. There was but one little store in Norton, built of cotlonwood logs,
and only a few houses. The settlers had to drive sixty-five miles to the
railroad. Mr. Page was a freighter and drove a yoke of oxen. On one oc-
casion he was with a train of mules with his ox team and a load of
hides. The rest of the train went on and left him, and he was so hun-
gry that he ate some salt pork, which made him very thirst}'. He had
lost his oxen the night before, so had to walk to the Solomon river, where
he drank until he became sick. Mr. Page began buying cattle when he
first came to Kansas and seven years was a freighter. After discon-
tinuing the freighting business he still dealt in cattle, which is his busi-
ness at the present time. He was here during the county seat fight, and
in 1874 was elected sheriff, but did not serve. He now has 640 acres of
land near Norton, where he took his original homestead, and it is
equipped with feed pens for stock. He is feeding several hundred head
this year, as it is his custom to deal in cattle and hogs in large num-
bers. Mr. Page is a member of the Knights Templars, the .Ancient
Order United Workman and the Ancient Free and -Vcceptcd Masons, and
in politics is a Republican.
On April 15, 1879, Mr. Page married Miss Mary R. Jones, daughter
of Oliver L. and Margaret (Hefner) Jones, natives of Indiana. Mrs.
Page was born in Lafayette, Ind., Ajiril 17, 1861, where she was raised
and attended the common schools. Her parents moved to Kansas in
1876, locating in Norton county, where her father engaged in farming
and stock raising. Mr. and Mrs. Page have had nine children: Wilburt
O. and Welmert G., twins, born February 16, 1880; Charles G., born
March 7, 1882; Ora E., born June 29, 1884: Jesse L., born September
5, 1886; Edith O., born 1888; Mabel and Chester, twins, born May 5, 1891,
the latter being deceased ; and Earle, born December 3, 1895. Edith is
married to Harry W. Frame and now lives at Clayton, Mo. All (he chil-
dren were educated at the Norton County High School.
Seywood Larrick, of Lenora, Kan., prominent capitalist, banker, ranch
owner, and formerly a stock dealer on a large scale, was born in Guern-
sey county, Ohio, Son of Asa Larrick, of Logan, Kan. Asa Larrick
moved from Ohio to Illinois, then to Iowa, and in 1872 came to Kansas,
locating in Phillips county, on the present site of Logan. They drove
from Kearney, Neb., by team, and took a homestead on the Solomon
river. Buffaloes and other big game were plentiful in those days. In
1878 the Indians raided the country west of Logan and a stockade was
built at that place for the protection of the settlers. The first house
the Larrick family lived in was built of logs, with a dirt roof, and our
6o BIOGRAPHICAL
subject attended the common schools in Phillips county and finished at
the Logan schools. At the age of thirteen he hunted buffaloes with his
father, for hides, and the last year on the range he killed a number of
buffaloes himself. lie and his father hunted for three years, and took the
hides to \\'allace, Kan., Kit Carson, and Julesburg, Col. The freight
for Logan was hauled from Russell, and the mail came from Concordia
to Kirwin, the Logan people depending on anyone who could to bring
it over.
After hunting buffaloes three years young Larrick went to the Black
Hills, remaining there for one year, and in coming back he stopped on
the range in Nebraska for three years. In 1880 he took a homestead in
Sheridan county and started into the cattle business, which he followed,
and in 1887 entered the banking business. On May 14 of that year he,
with others, bought the Exhange Bank, of Lenora, of which he is princi-
pal stockholders, and of which he has been cashier for twenty-five years.
He remained in the cattle business until about ten years ago. In two years
his company shipped over 7,000 head of cattle from Arizona, and handled
hundreds of hogs and horses. L'pon going out of the cattle business, in
1904, he established the State Bank, of Edmond, Kan., which in 1906 was
changed to the First National Bank. He is president of this bank and
owns more than four-fifths of the stock. In 1908 he with others estab-
tablished the Hoxie State Bank, of Hoxie, Kan., of which he is president.
In that same year he with others established the Farmers' State Bank
of Speed, in which he sold his interest last year. In 1891 he organized
the Lenora Lumber Company, of which he was treasurer for twenty-one
)'ears, selling his interest last August. Mr. Larrick was one of the orig-
inal stockholders in the Osage Fire Insurance Company of Topeka. He
owns about 1,700 acres of land in Kansas. He was councilman of
Lenora for a number of years, is a member of the Congregational church,
of the Ancient Free and .Accepted Masons, of the Ancient Order of I'nited
Workmen and of the Modern Woodmen of America. In politics he is
a Republican, and has been a school director for nine years.
On July 22, 1885, Mr. Larrick was married to Miss Celestia .\. Harde-
man, daughter of John M. Hardeman, a native of Missouri, who came
to Kansas in 1879, 3"^ ^^'^^ engaged in farming. They came here from
Iowa, and Mrs. Larrick attended the common schools of Graham county,
after which she taught school for two years. Mr. and Mrs. Larrick have
five children: Lottie A., married to W. L. Leidig, assistant cashier of
the E.xchange Bank, of Lenora, and is living in that town; Ollie I.. Fern
A., and Lewis L., attending Washburn College in Topeka, and Emma,
attending high school at Norton, Kan. The family arc members of the
Congregational church.
\\'hen the Larrick family first came to Logan there were no settlers
west of that point on the river and the country was covered with buffalo
grass, ehere being no hay except in the draws. The Indians camped on
BIOGRAPHICAL 6l
the river during the winter and cut down cottonvvood trees ti) allow their
horses to browse. During the first two \^ears at f.ogan they could go
out any time and kill buffaloes and antelopes. In 1873 oui subject was
on Frenchman river, in southwest Nebraska, with his father, when they
saw the main body of a herd moving southward. They estimated that
more than 200,000 buffaloes passed their camp within two days, and they
killed ten by moonlight in one night, and the next day were kept busy
skinning carcasses. As soon as one was finished another was killed. In
the summer these hides brought as low as 60 cents for cow hides, and
90 cents for bull hides. The highest robe-hide price received was $3.25.
After the county -was settled the blue joint grass came, rains were more
frequent and better crops were raised. In 1890 they sowed wheat in the
dust. It did not come up till spring, but they harvested the biggest crop
they ever had. The creeks were full of beaver dams when they located
in this country, but after all the beavers were trajiped the dams washed
out, and since that time the creeks remain dry a part of the year. In
1877. while in the Black Hills, Mr. Larrick discovered a rich mine, but
left the hills for the winter, and as there was an Indian raid, he never
returned, although the mine was successfully worked later. When they
came to Kansas the Larrick family had no money, and one winter wore
buffalo hocks for shoes, so that our subject has made all of his money
right where he lives. He is the largest individual taxpayer in Norton
county. He is interested in banks at Norton, Phillips and Sheridan coun-
ties. The capital and surplus of the Exchange Bank is $61,000, of the
First National Bank of Edmond, $32,000, and of the Hoxie State Bank,
$43,000. The Larrick residence in Lenora is the second finest in the
whole northwestern part of the State. In the same neighborhood where
he made his fortune Mr. Larrick once worked for $8.00 per month.
When he was a cattle dealer, in 1882-83, he shipped in stock from Mis-
souri for this section of the country, and at one time the settlers were
so anxious for stock that five car loads were sold by moonlight on arrival
at the station. In those days there was an abundance of range.
Mr. Larrick's father and mother still live on the original homestead,
which they took forty years ago, near Logan, the former at the age of
seventy-five and the latter past seventy-three, both active for their age.
C. W. Ward, a leading physician of Lenora. Kan., was born in Os-
borne, this State, June 16, 1883. son of David and Clara M. Ward, natives
of New York, who came to Kansas in the early '70s and settled in Mar-
shall countv, removing to Osborne county in 1878, where they took a
homestead south of the town of Osborne. After a short time David
Ward entered the mercantile business in Osborne. He later went into
the real estate business and was register of deeds of the county for
three or four terms. He was prominent in the politics in this section
of the Slate. His death occurred in O.shorne in T0n8.
The subject of our sketch was raised in the town of his birth, attend-
62 BIOGRAPHICAL
ing its public schools and graduating from the high school in 1904, after
which he taught school for two years. In 1906 he began the study of
medicine at the Kansas University, from which he graduated in 1910
with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He is a member of the Nu
Sigma Nu. After leaving college he located at Almena, Kan., remaining
there for a few months, and then located in Lenora, where he has since
practiced his profession. He is a member of the State, County and
American Medical associations, of the Ancient Free and Accepted Ma-
sons, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Eastern Star and of
the Modern Woodmen of America. In politics he is a Republican. Dr.
Ward was a member of the Osborne militia and acted as guard in the
famous Dewey case, which was tried in Norton county and lasted for
forty-two consecutive days. Dr. Ward's success is the result of his own
well directed efforts. He paid his own way through college.
John M. Burton, a leading banker of Atwood Kan., was born in Mon-
roe county, Indiana, March 16, 1838. a son of Henry W. and Martha
Burton, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of North Caro-
lina. Henry W. Burton was a farmer and when his son, John, was quite
yoimg, he moved to Kankakee county, Illinois, where the boy attended
the common schools and later was for some time engaged in teaching.
Our subject then took up surveying, completed his studies in that line
and became a surveyor. For sixteen years he was deputy county sur-
veyor of Kankakee county, teaching school in the winter during fourteen
years of this time. The Burton family were among the pioneers of their
locality in Kankakee county, as the town of Kankakee had just been
started when they came.
In the spring of 1865 ^Ir. Burton enlisted in Company A of the One
Hundred and Fifty-sixth Illinois infantry, but had gone only as far as
Chattanooga,' Tenn., when Lee surrendered. He was discharged at
Memphis, Tenn., in the fall of 1865. After leaving the army he was
elected county surveyor of Iroquois county, Illinois, which office he held
for fifteen years, living in the town of Watseka. In the spring of 1887
he came to Kansas, located in Atwood, and bought the Rawlins 'County
Bank. Mr. Burton owned all the stock himself and conducted a private
banking business in the same building now occupied by him, having
made some addition to the building in the meantime. In July, 1902, he
organized his business into a State bank and it is now the Rawlins
County State Bank, of which Mr. Burton has been president since the
organization.
Aside from his banking business our subject has some 2,000 acres of
ranch property under fence, modernl}' equipped in every respect, and
stocked with several hundred head of live stock. He has served the city
of Atwood eight or ten years as mayor and at the last election was Re-
publican candiate for representative, but owing to his vast business
interests was unable to make a hard campaign, so was defeated by a few
n
<\^WuZZ^(^ij&y
BIOGRAPHICAL 63
votes by the Democratic candidate. He is a member of the Kansas
Bankers' Association and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
There was no railroad through Atwood at the time Mr. Burton located
here, the nearest station being Stratton, Neb., thirty miles away, from
which point all freight was hauled. Atwood was founded in 1880, and in
1885 it was but a small inland village with no county buildings. The
surrounding country was sparsely settled and the chief industry was
cattle raising. Mr. Burton was here during the county seat fight, in
which Atwood was victorious. In June, 1905, Mr. Burton married Sarah
L. Binning, a native of Iroquois county, Illinois. She first settled with
her husband in Nuckolls county, Nebraska, and later came to Rawlins
county, Kansas, where they took up Government land. Mr. Burton is
a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Arthur Capper, of Topeka, Kan., whose name has become familiar to
a million or more readers through the different Capper publications,
is a conspicuous example of the self-made man, having advanced, un-
aided and by his own efforts and industry, to the position of leading
publisher of the West. In this, his native State, he is recognized as one
of the builders of Kansas, and as a young man who has dedicated his
useful life to the advocacy of those principles and material things which
have made the State preeminent in the Nation. Born in Garnett, Ander-
son county, in 1865, Arthur Capper's first recollections are of the sto-
ries of the days when the settlers along the eastern border were fight-
ing for free government. He was a student at the feet of the pioneers
who had fought the good fight and started Kansas on her first half
century of history, a record in State building that is the pride and glory
of every citizen. Thus, in his boyhood, he grasped the Kansas spirit
and early became an advocate of the principles and policies which have
made it one of the most progressive commonwealths of the L'nion.
Throughout the whole of his active career he has ever been loyal to
the Stale of his borth, a Kansan whose efforts have been devoted to the
betterment of his State and its people, and who, in turn, has received
from them the inspiration of their remarkably progressive spirit. The
parents of Mr. Capper were among the first settlers of Anderson county,
and Herbert Capper, the father, a native of England, was one of the
founders of Garnett. In 1870. with several other Kansans, he organ-
ized the town of Longton, in Elk county, naming it for his birthplace
in England. He lived there only a short time, when he returned to
Garnett, where he and his wife died. They were buried in Garnett
cemetery. The surviving children are: Arthur and Mary, who reside
in Topeka, and Edith, the wife of A. L. Eustice, of Chicago. The
parents were faithful members of the Quaker church and in the family
circle the language of that religious organization was used in the daily
conversation. They were excellent people, of strong minds and
good character, and their son grew to manhood under excellent in-
64 BIOGRAPHICAL
fluences. It was in this Christian home that Arthur Capper was taught
tlie lessons of honesty, morality, industry, temperance and self-reliance,
wliich traits of character have been the foundation of his splendid suc-
cess. That those early Christian influences and teachings were indelibly
impressed upon his mind is attested by the countless articles that have
appeared in his publications in behalf of all religious move-
ments and right living. The school days of Mr. Capper were
spent in Garnett, where he received every advantage its splendid schools
afforded. His father, while not discounting the value of an education,
entertained the old-fashioned notion that a boy should carve out iiis
own destiny and reh' on his own resources, and that a knowledge of
the great schools of life was of equal importance. He, therefore, taught
him to earn his own money and to save it. A very little thing often
serves as the inspiration that shapes the destiny of men. AMiile yet
a mere lad ^Ir. Capper received as a Christmas present a little toy
printing press, which, as years have passed, remains his most cherished
and valued gift. \\'ith this little outfit he began his career as a pub-
lisher, for with it he printed cards and did other little odd jobs for mer-
chants, saving up several dollars. Before he was fourteen years of age
he entered upon an apprenticeship in the printing business in the office
of the Garnett "Journal."' his wages to begin with amounting to one
dollar per week. His first work was the job of inking the forms of
an old Washington hand press. He continued to work on the Garnett
'"Journal" until 1884, when he secured a position on the "Daily Capital"
at Topeka. Up to that time all his work had been done during spare
hours out of school, during part of the afternoons, evenings and Satur-
days. He allowed his studies to suffer no neglect, however, and always
stood at the head of his classes. He looks back to those days of train-
ing in Garnett as the most important epoch in his early life, and remem-
bers with love and gratitude the precept, example and Christian influ-
ences thrown around him by his good Quaker father and mother.
Next to the parent, the teacher who trains a boy's mind is best qualified
to speak of his real character. Prof. J. B. Robison, now living at Law-
rence at the advanced age of eighty-four, taught for many years in the
Garnett schools and was close to boyhood life of Mr Capper. From this
old teacher comes this tribute : "I knew tlie family well and I am
familiar with the principles inculcated in his mind by his parents from
childhood until he completed the high school course in Garnett in 1884.
The principles taught at home and through the bight school
course were morality, honesty, truthfulness, industry, justice to all, and
good, intelligent citizenship. As I had charge of the school for a num-
ber of years I had a good opportunity to know the foundation upon
which Mr. Capper started and built his success. I kept a private record
of the deportment and average per cent, of all my pupils in their studies
on final examination, and have that record now. He stood perfect in
BIOGRAPHICAL 65
the former and 98 per cent, in the latter. He understood the pur-
pose of schools and prepared his mind while under a tutor for intelli-
gent and active work when he entered the business world." While
'mastering the trade he had chosen, an ambition arose to become
a writer for the press, and while still a youth he twice captured a
first prize for the best letter. The first prize was won in the New
York "Tribune" and the second in the Topeka ''Capital." Such was
Mr. Capper's steady progress toward an ultimate purpose and ulti-
mate success. At the age of eighteen he started to make his own
way in the world. As stated, he went to Topeka in 1884 to work as
a typesetter for the "Dail}' Capital." The foreman found him a good
workman, always to be depended upon, and with habits of sobriety and
industry. True worth seldom fails of recognition. Mr. Capper soon
gained the notice of Major Hudson, the founder and owner of the
"Capital," who lent him ever)- possible encouragement. Ambitious to
become an all-round newspaper man he applied for and was given a
position as a reporter. It was not long until he was made city editor
of the paper, a position which full}- tested his capacity for work, and it
was during these years that the industr}-, economy and attention to
detail, taught him by his parents, were counted by his employer as his
chief asset. His first work that gave him Slate-wide acquaintance was
in 1889, when he took the job of reporting the legislative proceedings
for the "Capital." It is, perhaps, the most complete, concise and accu-
rate report of its kind ever published in a Kansas newspaper, or, for
that matter, in any other. In 1893 came his first venture in independent
newspaper work when he purchased the North Topeka "Mail" from
Frank A. Root. For two years he was his own editor, reporter, busi-
ness manager and advertising solicitor, and also had charge of all the
mechanical work on his paper. For a time he published the "Mail" as
a local i^aper, but later it was merged with the "Breeze," which he
purchased from Thomas McNeal in 1897. When he acquired the To-
peka "Daily Capital," in 1901, he had but $2,000 of the purchase price,
his remaining capital consisting of the confidence he had established in
the minds of different financiers, who had observed and weighed the
character of the man during his career in Topeka and who were ready
to assist him, having absolute confidence in his integrity and ability
to pay off the remaining indebtedness. There came discouraging times,
but he had faith in the future and believed that industry and a policy
that stood for the real spirit of Kansas and the high ideals of her peo-
ple would win. That his hopes have been fully realized is attested by
the remarkable growth of his business. Kansas is potentially an agri-
cultural State. Mr. Capper realized that and foresaw, before the agri-
cultural press of the country had attained the importance it now has,
the splendid opportunities open to the publisher of a strong agricultu'al
paper. In 1903 he followed up his judgment by converting the "Mnil
66 BIOGRAPHICAL
and Breeze," then one of the most successful and prosperous political
and practical news weeklies with more than a State-wide reputation,
into "Farmers' Mail and Breeze,"' now the leading farm and live ■stock
journal of Kansas. He made the change suddenly, and it took genius
and courage to put it through, but subsequent events have more than
justified the wisdom of it. In a class of nearly 500 agricultural publica-
tions "Farmers' Mail and Breeze" ranks as one of the twelve leading
journals of its kind in the United States. With characteristic originality
and energy he set about making it alive with interest and with real prac-
tical usefulness, and today it is welcomed as a personal friend in more
than 100,000 homes. Since then he has assumed the publication of other
farm papers, though they are not so well known in Kansas. These other
agricultural papers are the "Missouri Valley Farmer," which has over
350,000 subscribers ; "Nebraska Farm Journal," a semi-monthly, and the
"Missouri Ruralist," a weekly published in Kansas City, Mo. The
"Kansas Weekly Capital," the weekly edition of the "Daily Capital,"
with 100,000 circulation, goes chiefly into farm homes. Every month
the total issue of the several Capper publications reaches the extraordi-
nary figure of 3,000,000 copies. A carload of printed papers is put
through the Topeka postoffice every two days, and Mr. Capper pays as
postage to Uncle Sam the sum of $125,000 a year. There are over 600
people on the Capper payroll in Topeka, and next to the Santa Fe Rail-
way Company, whose shops and general offices are located there, he
pays out more rhoney to labor than any other interest in the city, if not
in the State. His capacity for work is tremendous and his master}- of
detail marvelous, for he keeps in intimate touch with ever}' department
of this immense business. One of the several Eastern writers who have
come to Topeka to inspect the methods Mr. Capper has employed in his
successful career, in discussing the fine building which housed the Cap-
per publication, said: " * * * It is five stories high, 75x130
feet, absolutely fire-proof, built of Bedford stone, terra cotta, steel and
concrete; equipped with every convenience of a modern publishing plant,
rest room, shower baths, restaurant, assembly room, etc. The total
cost of the plant and equipment was $355,000. The different depart-
ments are equipped with thoroughly modern facilities for handling the
work. * * * " ^f^ Capper is not all business. There is a per-
sonal side to his character and a very tender and sympathetic one, as
demonstrated by the many benefactions and charities bestowed by him
upon the sick and afflicted. He is not only a benefactor to those in suf-
fering and distress, but his thoughtful interest also extends to the wel-
fare of his fellows who need a cheering word, the benizon of hope, and
the sunshine that brightens their existence. No one can doubt his love
and interest in little cliildren, for one of his keenest pleasures is to con-
tribute to their happiness and development. More than 6,000 boys and
girls each year call at his office and secure a supply of free flower seeds
niOC.RAPHICAL 67
which they are to plant and cultivate with their own hands, under direc-
tions furnished them. Prizes are awarded to the most successful grow-
ers, and thus the)' are encouraged to gain a practical knowledge of the
cultivation of flowers, and at the same time a development of their
aesthetic nature takes place. To foster the spirit of unselfishness and of
kindly deeds the children are encouraged to become the co-workers of
Mr. Capper in providing flowers for the sick, in the hospitals and in their
homes, his flower automobile making many trips for that purpose, from
the middle of June until the middle of September. Another annual
event which the children in and about Topeka look forward to with
pleasure is the picnic which he gives 10,000 of them at Vinewood park.
"Whoever will may come" to these entertainments, arranged and paid
for by Mr. Capper for the little folks. He knows the longing and desire
of the childish heart, and so provides innocent games, amusements, and
music that will mark the picnic as a red-letter day in the lives of all the
children present. Among the boys and girls who are his guests at each
picnic are nearly 2,000 poor children, who, at every Christmas time, are
remembered by him with a useful present. He organized the Good
Fellows' Club and appealed to the citizens of the city to join him in dis-
tributing toys, candy and clothing to the needy children of the city. He
personally took the lead in this splendid movement and asked his friends
to go into the bjways and seek out the children of the poor, that they
might be remembered on the Christmas holidays with a substantial token
of esteem and good will. He also collects magazines and periodicals,
which are distributed to the various hospitals, orphans' homes and other
charitable institutions of the city. Very few people in Topeka know
that Mr. Capper provides an automobile every week, through the spring
and summer months, for a ride for the old ladies of Ingleside Home.
This benefaction, like all his others, is bestowed without ostentation or
display. Mr. Capper was married, in 1892, to Florence Crawford, daugh-
ter of ex-Gov. Samuel J. Crawford. His wife is also a native Kansan,
Topeka being her birthplace. Politically, Mr. Capper is a Republican
and has been allied unreservedly with the progressive element of his
party. Recognizing the unusual ability and strength of character of
the man, an army of loyal friends are urging his candidacy for governor
in 1912. During his busy life Mr. Capper has taken an active inter-
est in many National movements for civic betterment and progress. He
has been a student of all the great questions that have been advanced
in the interest of better government, and through his publications, and
personally, he has been a valued helper. Among the National organiza-
tions of which he is an active member may be mentioned the National
Municipal League, the National Conservation Association, the American
Sociological Society, the National Tariff Commission .Association, the
National Conference of Charities and Corrections, the .American Eco-
nomic .Association, (he Internationa! Tax .Association, and the National
68 BIOGRAPHICAL
Civic Federation. He is a director of the Kansas State Historical So-
ciety and has been one of its active and influential members for years.
He was president of the Kansas State Editorial Association in 1909, is
now president of the board of regents of the Kansas State Agricultural
College ; is a director of the Young Men's Christian Association of To-
peka, and a member of the executive committee of the State Association.
He was chairman of the local committee which recently raised $50,000
in ten daj's for the Young glen's Christian Association building in To-
peka. Fraternally he is a member of the Ancient Order of United
Workmen, the jNlodern ^^'oodmen of America, the Knights and Ladies
of Security and the United Commercial Travelers. In concluding this
sketch the opinion of the Eastern writer, previously quoted, is here
given : "Men are judged by their achievements. They are honored only
in a degree which is made justifiable by their ability. But when a big,
generous-hearted man has a long string of real achievements to his
credit, humanity, in its greed for personal fame, is prone to lump them
off as bargains, feeling that, well, maybe, some of it was due to luck.
Men like Arthur Capper do not travel successward by any easy road.
It takes character — truly great qualities you find in all really self-
made men.''
J. T. Short, probate judge of Rawlins county, was born December 27,
1856, at \^'iota. \\'is.. son of R. B. and Narcissia (Hale) Short, the former
a native of Kentucky and the latter of Tennessee. His father was en-
gaged in stock raising and farming. When our subject was about three
years old his parents moved to Pottawatomie county. Iowa, where he
was raised and attended the common schools. His grandfather Hale
was killed in the Black Hawk war, in 1832, and in 1886 the Government
erected a monurnent on the site where he, with several other men, was
killed. At the time of this war the people were sent to Wiota Fort
(\\'isconsin), and here in later years the subject was born, in the same
house that protected the settlers in 1832.
After leaving school Mr. Short engaged in farming and stock raising
for two years, and in 1885 came to Kansas, locating at Atwood,- where
he farmed and worked at the carpenter trade for about nine years. He
was then appointed deputy sheriff of Rawlins county and while serv-
ing in that capacity worked in a hardware and implement house. After
retiring from the office of deputy at the end of four years he continued
three years longer in the hardware and implement business. He then
engaged in contracting and built the present court house of Rawlins
county, the high school, and several other large modern buildings in
Kansas and Nebraska, retiring from the contracting business in 1912,
for the purpose of looking after his several farms in this county. In the
fall of 1912 Mr. Short was elected probate judge on the Democratic
ticket. He is a member of the Christian church, and of the .\ncient
Free and Accepted Masons and Commandery.
BIOGRAPHICAL 69
Mr. Short was married, January 24, 1876, to Miss Joannah C. Mc-
Knight, daughter of Anthony and Cynthia (Soddy) McKnight, the
motlier a native of Pennsylvania and the father of Tennessee, the latter
a minister of the Baptist church. Mrs. Short was born in Lafayette
county, Wisconsin, where she was raised and attended common schools.
Mr. and Mrs. Short have had six children : Lucy Belle (deceased) ; Ab-
bie (deceased) ; Linnie Mabel; Charles (deceased); Eugene (deceased);
and Myrtle. Linnie Mabel is married to Claude Hiltabidel and lives in
Atwood. Myrtle P. is married to Waldo Blood and lives at Mul-
len, Neb.
Edward Winslow Wellington. — The history of the Twentieth century
is a chronicle of business progress and development. Commercial pros-
perity and business conquests now fill the annals of our country and the
man who successfully establishes, operates and controls extensive com-
mercial interests is the victor of the present age. Mr. Wellington is
a representative of the class of substantial builders who have served
faithfully in the upbuilding of this great commonwealth. He is a pio-
neer of central Kansas who has nobly done his duty in establishing and
maintaining the material interests and moral welfare of his community.
Mr. \\'ellington is a native of the Bay State, born at Cambridge. Mass.,
February 4, 1853, the son of Ambrose and Lucy Jane Kent Wellington.
On both sides he is descended from Colonial stock. The Wellington fam-
ily was established in America by Roger Wellington, a Welshman, who
settled in Massachusetts Bay Colony at Watertown, now Cambridge,
in 1632. He was born in Wales in 1609 and died March 11, 1697. Ben-
jamin, his son, lived until January 8, 1709; his son, Benjamin, Jr., was
born in 1675, and was town clerk of Lexington, Mass., and lived until
October 31, 1738. Timothy, the son of Benjamin, Jr., was born July
27, 1719, and lived until 1761 ; his son, Benjamin, was born August 7,
1743. When the Revolutionary war broke out Benjamin Wellington
was one of first Continental army soldiers to meet the British scouts in
advance of the British army on their way to I^exington that memorable
morning of April, 1775. and was the first armed soldier of the Continental
army to be captured in the Revolutionary war. Benjamin O. Welling-
ton, son of Timothy, was born August 23, 1778, at Lexington, Mass.
He married Polly Hastings, whose ancestors had settled on a farm
adjoining the one Roger Wellington had located in 1632. They became
the parents of seventeen children before I'.enjamin died in 1853. The
Wellington family lot in Mount Auburn cemetery occupies a part of each
of these original forms owned by the Wellington and Hastings families
in the Colonial days.
Ambrose Wellington, the .son of Benjamin O. and father of Edward
Wellington, whose name heads this sketch, was born in Lexington,
Mass., April 11, 1819. He received an excellent education, graduating
from Harvard I'niversity with the class of 1841. After leaving college
70 BIOGRAPHICAL
he was master of a boys' school for a few years, and in 1845 founded the
first school for colored children in Boston. Ambrose Wellington was
one of the pioneer educators of his day, he was noted for his opposition
to corporal punishment. Some of the most brilliant men of his day
recognized his great worth and ability, and were his friends and asso-
ciates, among them Benjamin Butler, Charles Sumner, Wendell Phillips
and Josiah Quincy. He was a profound lawyer, a well known geologist
and educator of great ability. On May 27, 1845, he married Lucy Jane
Kent, daughter of A\'ill!am A. Kent, of Concord, N. H., and the niece
of Governor Kent, of Maine. The Kent family was one of prominence in
New England during the Colonial days, and many men of ability have
descended from it. For a number of years Colonel Kent was in the
United States customs service in Boston. Ambrose Wellington died
March 26, 1895, and his wife departed this life April 25, 1907.'
Edward Winslow Wellington received his elementary education in the
public schools. Subsequently he attended the Latin school in Boston,
Mass., then entered Harvard L'niversity, graduating from the literary
department with the class of 1874. After leaving college he began to
study law in his father's office, and was admitted to the Massachusetts
bar in 1877. Mr. Wellington came west in the spring of 1877, stopping
in Denver for a short time ; from that city he rode to Saline county, Kan-
sas, on horseback, a perilous trip at that time, as Indian raids were still
frequent along the trail. He operated a sheep ranch near Tescott. in
Ottawa county, about a year, then engaged in the same business on the
Elkhorn. Ellsworth county. Having faith in Kansas and its future, Mr.
Wellington purchased 12,000 acres of land in Ellsworth county, one of
the largest ranches in central Kansas. He named the postoffice near
this ranch Carneiro, a Portuguese word meaning mutton. He built fme
buildings on the ranch, so that it presented a thoroughly modern appear-
ance, and became one of the noted places in the county. In 1887, Mr.
Wellington located in the town of Ellsworth. He invested heavily in
town property and since that time has erected more business blocks and
residences than any other man in the town. The store buildings cover
the west side of Douglas avenue from First to Second streets, and are
the best in the city. Since locating in Ellsworth Mr. Wellington has
been greatly interested in civic improvements. At an early day he pur-
chased the old court house, opera house and Odd Fellows' hall, and at
once began tearing them down to make room for new buildings with
modern conveniences. He was the first to install steam heat in his
buildings. Following this came fine plate-glass fronts, the first in the
town, then cement sidewalks. Taking great pride in the growth of his
home city, Mr. Wellington built, owns and operates the sewerage sys-
tem of the town. No amount of time, energy or money is too great for
him to spend if it be for the betterment of the community. Mr. Wel-
lington typifies the spirit of the West. Progress and improvement are
BIOGRAPHICAL 7I
his watchwords. He is preeminently a business man and his efforts
have been crowned with well-deserved success. In addition to his large
laud holdings he has a business concern handling loans and insurance
under the firm name of E. W. Wellington & Son. They also have an
abstract office.
Mr. Wellington has not confined his energies to business alone, but is
one of the most prominent Masons in Kansas. He is a past grand mas-
ter of Kansas, past grand high priest, past grand commander, past
grand master of Council, past potentate Isis temple, Temple Ancient
Arabic Order Mystic Shrine. .Mr. Wellington is a Republican. On
September 23, 1879, he married Clara, the daughter of Maj. George Ed-
wards, United States arm}', retired, of Boston, who was a classmate of
Gen. U. S. Grant. Mrs. Wellington was a niece of Milne Edwards, the
well known naturalist of Paris. One child has been born to Mr. and Mrs.
Wellington — Waldo Forster — born September 26. 1884, and is asso-
ciated with his father in business in F.llsworth. Mrs. Wellington occu-
pies a prominent place in the social life of Ellsworth and central Kan-
sas. The Wellington home is one of the largest and finest in Ellsworth,
with beautiful grounds and is known for the hospitality of its hostess,
who has many friends.
William Eugene Stanley. — There is no quality in man that contributes
so much toward his success or failure in life as that great fundamental
in his make-up which we call character. It should be the ambition of
every one to so shape his character that it may be classified under the
one general head — good ; and, perhaps, no man ever lived who better
succeeded in that laudable ambition than the late William Eugene Stan-
ley, of Wichita, ex-governor of Kansas, distinguished lav/yer, honored
citizen, and true Christian gentleman.
Governor Stanley was a Buckeye by birth, born near Danville, Knox
county, Ohio, December 28, 1844, son of a physician. He was reared on
a farm, was educated in the common schools of Hardin county, Ohio,
and in the Ohio Wesleyan University. In his early manhood he stud-
ied law in Kenton and Dayton, Ohio, and was admitted to the bar at the
former place in 1868. He came to Kansas in 1870, and for two years re-
sided in Jefferson county, teaching school at Perry, and later serving
as county attorney, which office he resigned in 1872 and removed to
Wichita. This city becoming his permanent residing place in the Sun-
flower State, he resided here continuously from 1872 to the date of his
death, a period of nearly forty years, barring the four years he served as
governor of the State, during which he necessarily resided in Topcka.
But during that time regarded Wichita as his home. At the time he
located there Wichita was a hamlet, a mere speck, so to speak, upon the
great unsettled plains of southern Kansas, its population consisting, for
the most part, of cowboys, ranchmen and adventurers, together with a
generous supply of that undesirable element who derived their living
•J2 BIOGRAPHICAL
from a game of chance, and whose wits were taxed to their utmost
in the hatching and baiting of schemes which would enable them to en-
trap and fleece the unsuspecting, faith-laden settler. For a man who
possessed the habits, tastes and tendencies of young Stanley, and who
had been brought up in the atmosphere and environment that attended
his early life, it must have required a herculean courage for him to
locate there at all. But he did so, and instead of sinking to the level
of his new environment, as many another would have done, and instead
of becoming a part of the great homogenous mass of fleecers, fakers,
and law-breakers, which obtained here then, the inborn, high-bred,
manly character of William Eugene Stanley and a few other men of the
same t3'pe was such as to enable them to stand firm for the right ; to
blaze the way, by precept and example, for order and good ; to fertilize
the \\'ichita soil in such a manner that, where only weeds of wickedness
and sin grew before, there would take root and spring up the massive
oaks of religion, education and civilization. Slow, but sure was the
metamorphosis. But in time it came. Right triumphed, and today
Wichita is one of the most orderly and law-abiding cities in the land;
thanks to William E. Stanley and those who had the moral courage to
stand with him.
As soon as Mr. Stanley located in Wichita he entered upon the pur-
suit of his profession, and, barring the time he occupied the guberna-
torial chair, was a practicing lawyer at the bar throughout the full
period of his residence there, and this record as a lawyer forms a large
part of the legal history of Sedgwick and adjoining counties during that
time, and it is, also, stamped upon the jurisprudence of the State, as
well. In the court records of several Kansas counties, including Sedg-
wick, the name of William E. Stanley appears far more frequently than
that of any other lawyer, showing conclusively that he was the fore-
most and most successful legal advocate in his section of the State.
However, while Mr. Stanley was a great lawyer, it is not his legal
talent alone that entitles him to go down in the State's history as one
of the "great men of his time. In truth there were other qualities and
accomplishments in his make-up which would, doubtless, completely
overshadow his legal attainments, great as they were. He was twice
honored by the highest gift which the people of his State had it in their
power to bestow, and in the estimation of the commonwealtlrs historian
this fact, together with his official accomplishments, would undoubtedly
outweigh all of his achievements at the bar, brilliant though they were.
But there was one other grand quality in Mr. Stanley's personality
which completely overshadows both of these; a quality beside which
his legal talent was as an ant hill to a mountain ; a quality to which,
when we liken the matchless triumphs of the great office he held, it is
like comparing the importance of a brooklet to that of a mighty stream.
This one paramount quality in the man was his true, manly, inbred, irre-
BIOGRAPHICAL 73
proachable good character — a character which to him was the first
consideration of his life; a character that was so steadfast in him that
every other consideration was subordinated to it, and made to occupy
a minor place. This one great factor in his life ever and at all times
occupied the main track, and had full right-of-way over and above every
other alternative. It was the cornerstone of his ver}' existence, and
buildcd, as it was, upon bedrock, it was as unshakable and as immovable
as Gibraltar itself. It was this priceless quality in Mr. Stanley's make-
up, more than an\- other, that was responsible for his great success in
life, both at the bar and in politics. He not only possessed a character
of the highest order, but it was of that superlative kind which we call
Christian character, and a more splendid specimen of it was, perhaps,
never exemplified by the life of anyone. Always a God-fearing man,
and a devout adherent of Christianity, he was for twenty-five years one
of the pillars of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Wichita, and
for the same length of time was superintendent of its Sabbath school.
Furthermore, Governor Stanley's religion was not merely a Sunday re-
ligion. He wore it seven days in each week. In his law office and
home, in the court room and in the executive chair of the State, his
Christianity and religion were constantly at his elbow, ready to guide,
aid and influence his every thought and act. This, therefore, was his
one supreme quality, and while there were many others that were ex-
cellent, this one sterling asset in the storehouse of his manly talents
should have first place and should occupy the post of honor, for a beau-
tiful Christian character is of more real value to a man iliaii riches — yea,
of more value even than mountains of pure gold.
While Mr. Stanley had always taken a keen interest in political mat-
ters and was an ardent member of the Republican party, vet he was in
no sense a politician, and barring three terms of service as attorney for
Sedgwick county, shortly after locating in Wichita; also as police com-
missioner for a time, under the metropolitan system, together with one
term in the State legislature, he had never held nor been a candidate
for office up to the year 1898, devoting himself energetically to his law
practice, which pursuit was more congenial to his tastes and inclinations.
However, in 1898, when the Kei)ublican party, smarting under the sting
of defeat at the hands of the Populists and Democrats in the previous
election, fairly ransacked the State in search of a standard bearer for
governor on whom all factions of the party could unite, the trend of
political sentiment spontaneously cemented itself in favor of William
E. Stanley, and at the convention held at Hutchinson, in June of that
year, he received the nomination for the highest office in the State, and
at the election which followed was triumphantly elected to the office of
governor. His first administration having been a most brilliant suc-
cess, in the vear igoo he was renominated for the office by acclamation
and was reelected to it bv even a larger majority than he had received
74 BIOGRAPHICAL
the first time, in spite of the most strenuous efforts the fusion ticket
could put forth. He served out the two full terms and undoubtedly
made one of the best governors the State of Kansas ever had. It is
not the purpose of the writer to enter upon an exhaustive discussion of
his official acts in this brief sketch, for all of that will be fully covered
in another department of this work. Suffice it to say, however, that th,e
two administrations of Gov. William E. Stanley will go down in his-
tory as two of the most successful administrations the State ever had,
and his fame as a splendid chief executive now permeates every part
of Kansas and is admitted by all exponents of public opinion, regardless
of political sentiments and affiliations. At the close of his second term
as governor he returned to Wichita and resumed the practice of law,
and was thus engaged at the time of his death, being the senior mem-
ber of the firm of Stanley, Vermillion & Evans, composed of himself,
R. R. Vermillion and Earl W. Evans. Four years after Mr. Stanley
first located in Wichita, or on May 30, 1876, he was united in marriage
to Miss Emma Lenora Hills, the daughter and only child of Henry
James Hills, a dry goods merchant of Wichita. Her mother's maiden
name was W^illampy Du Bois. Mrs. Stanley Was born in Covington,
Ind., April 4, 1858. Both of her parents were born in Franklin county,
Ohio. She came to Wichita with them, in 1871, from the State of Iowa,
whither they had removed from Indiana when she was a small child.
For several years her father was engaged as a merchant, in both Keokuk
and Prairie City, of the Hawkeye State. Henry James Hills had been
partly reared in Ohio and at Crawfordsville, Ind. He had learned the
dry goods business at Delaware, Ohio. He became one of the pioneer
dr}- goods merchants of Wichita and built on the corner of Second and
Main streets the first brick store in the city, which building still stands.
He followed mercantile pursuits there for many years and made a name
for himself as a man of sterling habits, inflexible honesty and unim-
peachable integrity. He died on June 20, 1908, having celebrated his
golden wedding in the previous year, an occasion which was attended
by several brothers and sisters of himself and wife from other States,
as well as by two attendants at their marriage fifty years before. His
widow, the mother of Mrs. Stanley, still survives, and she resides near
the home of her daughter in Riverside, Wichita.
Mrs. William E. Stanley is one of the most prominent women in the
State, and is scarcely less prominent than her distinguished husband.
In Wichita, her home, she easily occupies the post of honor as the first
lady of the city. Having finished her education at the Atheneum of
Jacksonville, III., she has throughout all her life taken an active interest
in all movements inaugurated and conducted by the patriotic women
of the land ; and she has been particularly active in those two superb
organizations — the Society of Colonial Dames and the Daughters of the
American Revolution — being one of the foremost women in Kansas in
BIOGRAPHICAL 75
the work of both. Her membership in the Colonial Dames was secured
through her relationship to Gov. Thomas Wells, of Connecticut, who
was one of her paternal ancestors, while her admission to the Daugh-
ters was brought about through her descent from Joseph Allen, of her
maternal ancestry. However, her eligibility to become a Dame came
through ten different lines of descent, and to become a Daughter through
five different lines of descent. She served for two years as the regent
of Eunice Sterling chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, of
Wichita, resigning it to become State regent in 1903, and serving as
such for five years. She is now vice-president-general of the National
Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, having been elected as
such in 1908, and reelected in 1910, being one of twenty such vice-presi-
dents in the United States, as well as the only Kansas woman who has
ever been thus honored. In 1910 she was made an honorary State regent
by the National Society. She was one of the charter members of the
Society of Colonial Dames, of Kansas, and is prominent in its work.
Besides her work in these National organizations, Mrs. Stanley takes
prominent part in the social and religious life of \\'ichita, being deeply
interested in the local chapters of the two organizations mentioned
above and a prominent and active member of the First Methodist
Episcopal Church : and she is the honored and central figure at a large
number of the exclusive social functions of the city.
During the four years that Mrs. Stanley was in the social limelight
as mistress of the governor's home in Topeka she wore her honors with
becoming modesty and discharged the trying duties of the "first lady of
the State" in such a manner as to win the plaudits of the most exacting
critics. It was the universal acclaim of everyone who was in a position
to observe and to know something of the social side of Governor Stan-
ley's two terms that as the presiding head of the State's "white house"
she honored herself and the State as few governor's wives have done, and
though she, herself, would make no such claims, she undoubtedly de-
serves a large share of the credit for the splendid success of Governor
Stanley's two administrations. She akso has the honor of being the first
mistress of the new executive residence in Topeka. She now occupies
the old Stanley homestead in Riverside, one of Wichita's most fashion-
able residence suburbs. It is one of the most picturesque and delightful
homes of the city, and has been the scene of many of Wichita's most
exclusive society gatherings. Her marriage to Governor Stanley resulted
in the birth of four children : Charles Albert died at the age of twenty
months ; Harry Wilbur is a general agent of the Equitable Life Insurance
Company with headquarters at Wichita ; Miss Harriet Eugenia, after
studying at Welleslcy, graduated at Baker I'niversity and is a former
teacher in the Wichita High School ; and William Eugene. Jr., is a stu-
dent at the University of Chicago.
Though Governor Stanley was twice the recipient of the highest po-
76 mOGRAPHICAL
litical honor it was possible for the people of the State to confer his high
character and splendid qualifications were such that he received many
other honors in the course of his career, some of them being of a National
character. On November 6, 1899, President William McKinley appointed
him a member of the committee on the National celebration of the es-
tablishment of the seat of government in the District of Columbia, and
his commission as such, signed by both President McKinley and John
Hay, Secretary of State, is one of the cherished possessions of the Stanley
family. Again, on February 16, 1903, he was appointed by President
Theodore Roosevelt a commissioner to negotiate with the Indians of
the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Muskogee and Seminole nations,
and this commission, bearing the signature of Theodore Roosevelt, is
likewise a cherished heirloom of the famil_y. Another honor he received
was that of Doctor of Laws, conferred on him by Bethany College.
It is fitting that a biography in a work of this description should con-
tain, to some extent, the ancestry of those whose biographies appear.
Governor Stanley was descended from an ancestry that played a very
prominent part in the early history of this country. In direct line his
ancestor, Thomas Stanley, came to this country in 1634 and removed to
Hartford in 1636, in which locality the activities of the family were con-
fined for the next century. His son, Nathaniel, married Sarah Boosey ;
their son, Nathaniel, married Anna ^^'hiting; their son was Nathaniel,
a Yale graduate of 1726, who married Mary Marshall, and their son was
Marshall; hi3 son, Nathaniel, married Mary Moore; their son, William
Lytle, married Eliza Fleming; and their son, Alman Fleming, father of
Governor Stanley, married Angelina Sapp, daughter of John Sapp and
Elizabeth Myers. Three of Governor Stanley's ancestors — John Flem-
ing, Lieut. Robert King and Lieut. William Moore — fought in the Rev-
olution, from Pennsylvania. Nathaniel Stanley, son of Thomas, was
one of the members of the body which acted as the supreme court, from
1690 until his death in 1712. His son occupied the same position and
was treasurer of Connecticut from 1725 to 1755. He was preceded in the
office of treasurer of his father-in-law, Joseph WHiiting, who held the
place from 1679 to 1718, and was preceded by his father, William Whit-
ing, who, in addition to being treasurer, was a supreme judge and a mem-
ber of the first house of representatives in Connecticut, in 1637. The
grandfather of Nathaniel Stanley (3) was John Allyn, who was secretary
of the colony from 1657 to 1695, supreme judge for many years, and a
member of the council of Sir Edmund Andros. His father, Matthews
Allj'n, likewise a representative and supreme judge, from 1658 to 1667,
was a commissioner of the United Colonies in 1660 and 1664. The line
also runs back to William P3'ncheon, one of the original patentees of Mas-
sachusetts, under the charter of Charles I., granted in 1629. Pyncheon
came over with Winthrop in 1630 and founded and governed Springfield,
Mass., to 1652, when he returned to England. Possibly the most distin-
BIOGRAPHICAL -J^
guished man among all these was William Leete, a graduate of Cam-
bridge, who came to America in 1638 and was a magistrate of Guilford,
deputy and governor of New Haven colony from 1658 to 1664; deputy
governor of Connecticut from 1609 to 1676, and governor from 1676 until
his death in 1683. Governor Leete was one of Connecticut's greatest
early statesmen and it is through him that Governor Stanley became a
member of the society, "Sons and Daughters of Colonial Governors."
Governor Stanley was proud of his parentage, but it made no change in
his demeanor, as his belief was in the individual building of character
and not in its inheritance.
It was not destined that Governor Stanley should be permitted to
enjoy a long span of life after he retired from public office, though the
seven years which intervened between the close of his second term as
governor and his death formed, perhaps, the happiest epoch in his career.
In the full enjoyment of private life he devoted himself to the law, to
his church and to his family and home; and it may also.be said, to his
neighbors, for one of the marked traits of his character was to do little
acts of kindness and to drop a flower here and there in the pathways of
those with w^hom he came in daily contact. But it was not the Supreme
will that he should be spared to his neighbors and family very long,
and on October 13, 1910, yielding to the ravages of an ailment which had
annoyed him for some time, the great heart of William Eusfene Stanley
ceased to beat and his spirit joined the hosts in the great bex'ond.
The death of Governor Stanley, though not wholly unexpected, proved
a shock to the whole community and to the entire State. The people of
^\'ichita and of Kansas, as one great unit, bowed their heads, and, for
the time being, became mourners. Messages of condolences from Gov-
ernor Stanley's friends in both Kansas and other States poured in on his
surviving helpmeet, and these served, to some extent, to soften the blow
and to lessen the pangs which ever attend the great sting of death. Many
were the personal letters she received from prominent friends of the gov-
ernor throughout the State. Numerous associations, societies and other
organized bodies hastened to meet and pass resolutions of sorrow and re-
spect. The Sedgwick County Bar Association, of which he had been an
honored member ever since its organization, was among these and as an
additional mark of respect it presented its resolutions to Mrs. Stanley in
the form of a handsomely printed morocco bound volume. Since these
resolutions were drafted and adopted by his colleagues at the bar it is
thought to be most appropriate to reproduce them herein, in full. They
are as follows :
"By sudden death, which came as a shock to our city and State, there
has been removed from our midst Hon. William E. Stanley, one of the
most gifted, honorable, high-minded and able members of our profession.
Brother Stanley was for nearly forty years one of the leaders of the Sedg-
wick county bar and was accorded a place in the legal profession through-
78 BIOGRAPHICAL
out the State as a trial lawyer, counsellor and jurist. His life is worthy
of emulation by the members of the bar and merits a recorded tribute.
Therefore, be it
"Resolved by the Sedgwick County Bar Association that the following
resolutions be adopted, and that the committee from this association
present a copy of the same to the Supreme Court of Kansas, the Circuit
Court of the United States for the district of Kansas, sitting at Wichita,
and the District Court of Sedgwick county, Kansas, with a request that
the same be entered on the journals and made a permanent record in the
said several courts :
"In view of the services of Brother Stanley as a citizen Qf Wichita
and one of the great factors in its upbuilding, his services as county at-
torney, as a member of the State legislature, and as governor of the State,
his high character and noble attributes as a man, rare gifts as a compre-
hensive and ever-ready public speaker and orator, integrity and ability
as a lawyer, and sound judgment as a jurist, we, the members of the
Sedgwick County Bar Association, as a memorial to the high esteem in
which he was held by his brethren of the bar,. bear testimony of and attest
the good humor, ability, integrity and industry with which he discharged
his obligations and fulfilled his duties in every public and private station
in life; that his private character and life were without reproach, his
public acts without blemish or stain; his official life was honorable,
marked by fidelity, distinguished by learning, honesty of purpose and
uprightness ; that his professional courtesy, his generous bearing toward
the members of the profession, ready to help the younger members of
the bar, hearty submission to the verdict or decision against him, sincere
faith in the honesty and integrity of judges and juries, generous for-
bearance in victory, endear his memory to this bar, and will cause it to
recall him, not only so long as the members frequent this room in the
practice of the law, but until they follow him.
"We recognize that in the period of time that has elapsed since Wichita
was a struggling town on the border of civilization down until yester-
day Governor Stanley stood in the front rank as a citizen in promoting
everything tending to upbuild or advance the city of Wichita, freely
giving his energy, time, money, voice and brains; ever encouraging the
building of the common schools and higher institutions of learning or
morality, helping to promote all these things to our general good, and
at all times striving to raise the standard of our citizenship; ever eager
and anxious to witness the crystalization of the moral sentiment of the
city. He was an intellectual force and moral power of the city toward
a hi,gher plane. His death leaves his place vacant in Wichita. His man-
tle has fallen and there is none to wear it. He was looked upon as a
leader by all classes in whatever engaged his time and sympathies.
"He possessed moral and phj'sical courage, self-reliance, talent (at
times amounting to genius), absolute faith in his cause, and the confi-
BIOGRAPHICAL 79
dence of liis co-workers; all of whicli go to make up those rare and in-
definable qualities in a man. which, united, arc at once recognized under
the one word, 'leadership.'
"Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be transmitted to the
family of our dead brother and to the Wichita 'Beacon and Eagle' for
publication. Signed: Kos Harris, Henry C. Sluss, D. M. Dale, Thomas
C. Wilson, E. B. Jewett, and Earl W. Evans."
No sketch of Governor Stanley, however long, would be complete if it
did not have something to say concerning his domestic and private life,
for it is this mirror which more clearh' reflects a man's true likeness than
any other. A loving husband, a kind, patient and indulgent father, his
home life was one perpetual session of domestic felicity and happiness.
It was among the treasures of his' private life that the real gems of his
character were most abundant, and it was within the sacred precincts of
his home that the great polar star of his being shone most brightly. In
the close proximity of his family, neighbors and friends the sunlight of
his nature gave forth its most radiant light. Possessing a warm heart
and an unfailing tendency to do good his pathway was strewn with flow-
ers of kindness and his associations were decorated with deeds of love.
To the widow and daughter, to the sons and to his friends, his life sho'.ild
ever be an inspiration ; and to the rising youth it should ever be a worthy
object of emulation.
Otis L. Benton, banker and capitalist of Oberlin, Kan., and the recently
appointed supervisor of Indian funds, is a native Kansan, having been
born in Pottawatomie county, July 31, 1866, son of Almon and Betsey
F. Benton, natives of New York, who came to Pottawatomie county as
pioneers in 1859. Here Almon Benton was engaged in farming and stock
business, and here his son, Otis L., was born and raised and received his
early education. Later he went to the city schools of Louisville, Kan.,
Washburn College in Topeka and Elliott's Business College, of Bur-
lington, Iowa.
At the age of nineteen years Mr. Benton came to Oberlin, where he
was employed as bookkeeper in the Oberlin State Bank, holding that
position for two years, when he was made cashier. He remained with
this bank as cashier and vice-president until 1891, when he organized the
Oberlin National Bank, of which he was the first cashier, and the twen-
ty-one years he has been connected with this institution saw him rise
from cashier to vice-president and then to president. Mr. Benton also
organized the First National Bank of Norcatur, the First State Bank of
Cedar Bluffs, and the First Bank of Dresden, and many other financial
institutions, notably among which is the Decatur County .Abstract Com-
panv, which concern has the most complete records of any abstract com-
pany in the State. Not only has he been interested in financial concerns,
but has dealt more heavily in cattle than any other man in the north-
western section of the State, handling from three to five thousand head
80' BIOGRAPHICAL
of Stock, per year. He is a member of the Benton & Hopkins firm, which
deals exclusively in cattle.
The banks which he has organized are not the only ones in which
Mr. Benton is interested. He is a member of the firm of Benton &
Douglas, bankers, also organized the largest corporation in western
Kansas, known as the Benton & Hopkins Investment Company, with a
capitalization of $200,000, of which he is president. This company is
doing perhaps the largest business in northern Kansas and one of the
largest in the whole State. Mr. Benton, of the firm of Benton & Steele,
caused the consolidation of five telephone companies, and the new com-
pany is known as the Consolidated Telephone Company, with general
offices at Oberlin, Kan., and paid-up capital of $150,000, thereby giving
its patrons better service at greatly reduced rates.
Mr. Benton has accumulated a comfortable fortune and won the afflu-
ence it brings, yet he has not hoarded up in the neighborhood of half a
million dollars and overlooked any opportunity to assist in the welfare,
happiness and prosperity of the people of Kansas. He has always con-
tributed liberally to the churches and colleges of his home county, as
well as in different parts of the State, and any benevolent society has
alwa^'S found him a ready and liberal contributor. Nor has he confined
his liberality to societies and institutions, but has sought other waj'S of
being of assistance to the people of the State. In 1910, in order to put
the farmers of this section of the country in better circumstances he
distributed 8,000 bushels of a new variety of seed wheat among them
and in 1911 distributed 6,000 bushels. Besides assisting the farmers in
wheat raising he has tried to encourage diversified farming, by offering
prizes for the best colts, corn, Kaffir corn, Indian corn, milo maize, cane
and other farm products, in the wa}- of round-trip tickets to Topeka, and
coupon tickets to the State fair, of which he is a director. At the award-
ing of these prizes a great deal of enthusiasm was displayed by the farm-
ers and the town was full of people. Some of the finest colts and farm
products ever seen in this section were on exhibit. The contest was con-
ducted for Mr. Benton by the officers of the farmers' institr.te of Decatur
county in a manner satisfactory to all. Mr. Benton takes great interest
in educational matters, and is at present one of the trustees of Wash-
burn College. He has a number of ranches in this part of the country,
10,000 acres in all. each ranch managed by competent men, and all under
his supervision. His residence in Oberlin is one of the finest in the
State.
While Mr. Benton has taken an active part in politics he has never
permitted his name to be used as candidate for any position. He was
chairman of the Republican senatorial committee in 1896, and has also
been chairman of the Republican central committee. He was a delegate
to the Chicago National Republican convention in 1908, and has been
prominent'v mentioned several times for congressman. lie is a lift
BIOGRAPHICAL 8l
member and director of the Kansas State Historical Society; is a mem-
ber of the Kansas Bankers' Association, and at the Wichita meeting,
May 17 to 19, 1904, delivered an address on "The Country Banker and
Cattle Paper in the Light of History ;" is a member of the State Agricul-
tural Association, and in 1903 delivered an address before that body on
"The Live Stock and Agriculture Feature of Northwest Kansas." Be-
sides various addresses before the different associations of Kansas, Mr.
Benton has written articles for papers and magazines on various sub-
jects. Five years ago he toured England with his family, and on his
return wrote an article for the newspapers on "European Cathedrals and
Abbeys as Twentieth Century Monuments to Biblical History," which
received wide and favorable press notices. Mr. Benton has just been
appointed by President Taft as supervisor of Indian funds, and took the
office January 2, 1913, his duties being to maintain supervision of these
funds and recommend the manner in which to handle this vast property.
He is a member of the Presbyterian church, of the Ancient Order Ignited
Workmen, Modern Woodmen of America, Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias and the Sons and Daughters of
Justice.
Dempster Scott was born in Lapeer count)', Michigan, March 24, 1853.
He was the only child of Orcn and Susan (Hungerford) Scott. His
father was born and grew to manhood in Vermont and his mother was
born and raised in New York. He father was one of those sturdy front-
iersmen who pioneered in New York, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa
and Kansas. lie worked many years of his .life at the carpenter trade,
helping to build the first capitol at Madison, Wis.
In the spring of i860 he sold his property in Lapeer county, Michigan,
and with his wife, Susan, and son, Dempster, started with a team for
Kansas. In Appanoose county, Iowa, he met people returning from
Kansas, who said that the crops were killed by drought; that the streams
and wells were going dry ; that stock was dying from want of water, and
that everyone was leaving the Territory of Kansas. He decided to re-
main in Appanoose county that summer, and in the fall moved to Ma-
quokcta, Iowa. In the spring of 1861 he moved from there to Clreen
county, Wisconsin, where the family lived till the spring of 1871, when
he again loaded an emigrant wagon and started for Kansas with his wife
and son. In the latter part of May of that year he arrived at Clyde,
Kan., where they camped while he looke(k around for a homestead. On
June I he located on the watershed, where the water runs north to
Five Creeks and south to Chapman creek, being three miles east of
where Miltonvale is now located. Junction City, forty-five miles away,
was the nearest railroad point. The terminal of the Central Branch was
then at Watervillc, which was forty-eight miles distant. Oak Hill, ten
miles away, was the nearest postoffice. During that summer there were
many antelopes in the country and one could sec them nearly every day,
82 BIOGRAPHICAL
and the deer also were numerous. That fall a band of Indians camped
at the head of Five Creeks and killed many deer. Oren Scott's home
was only one-half mile from the Texas cattle trail, over which thou-
sands and thousands of Texas cattle were driven north from Abilene,
where \\'ild Bill was city marshal. In 1872 a star route was established
from Concordia to Oak Hill. The Zahnesville postoffice was established
at the home of Oren Scott and he was postmaster for six years. Oren
and Susan Scott died in Miltonvale.
In the spring of 1874 Dempster Scott, having attained his majority,
began work for himself. He bought two yoke of cattle and commenced
breaking prairie. That was the famous grasshopper year. During the
latter part of July the hoppers came down in showers and ate whole
fields of corn in a single night. In a few weeks they had eaten all the
vegetation except the prairie grass. In September of that year Demp-
ster Scott went to Illinois and worked in Mason county until the next
February, when he returned home. In that month he took a homestead
of 160 acres, one-half mile north of his father's place. He built a dug-
out and a stone stable, and broke 120 acres of prairie. In 1876 and 1877
he broke prairie with his oxen for T. C. Henr}-, the Union Pacific land
agent at Abilene, who was then the wheat king of Kansas.
On December 10, 1878, Dempster Scott was united in marriage to ^liss
Clara Dunn, the daughter of James B. and Isabella Dunn, both of whom
were born and raised in Pennsylvania. James B. Dunn enlisted in Com-
pany M, Second regiment, Pennsylvania volunteer heavy artillery, on
February 8, 1864, and served two years. He was in a number of hard-
fought battles of the war. Clara Dunn was born in Mercer county,
Pennsylvania, on December i, 1861, and after the war removed with her
parents to Monroe county, Iowa, afterwards coming to Sullivan county,
Missouri. In the spring of 1877 the family came to Cloud county, taking
a homestead two miles east of ^^liltonvale, and on that place Mr. and Mrs.
Scott were united in marriage. James B. Dunn died in Atwood in 1902
and his wife died in the same city in 1900.
Dempster Scott and his wife lived on their homestead until the spring
of 1880. Their eldest son, Charley E. Scott, was born in the old dug-
out on October 18, 1879. In the spring of 1880 they made proof o;i their
claim and moved to Burr Oak, where Mr. Scott and Dr. Monnahan
engaged in the drug business for three months. He then returned with
his family to Zahnesville. which is now located close to the southwest
corner of the homestead which they had recently left. They started a
small drug store. In the spring of 1881 Dud Hathway, of Clay Center,
and W. T. Mathews, of Zahnesville, who now lives at Miltonvale, erected
a new store building, 24 x 60, two stories, one mile east of Miltonvale,
anticipating the arrival of the Kansas Central railroad (narrow gauge),
for which Star township, in Cloud count)', had voted $10,000 in bonds.
In 1882 Dempster Scott secured six yoke of cattle, hitched them to his
BIOGRAPHICAL 83
Store, which was 14 x 28, ten feet being partitioned off of the rear for a
residence, and hauled it to the new location. Shortly afterwards the
Zahnesville postoffice was moved to that place. In 1881 the railroad
built the grade and in April, 1882, laid the track to Miltonvale, which
derived its name from Milton Tootle, late of St. Joseph, Mo., he owning
the land on which the town was built. Mr. Scott bought one of the first
lots sold and built one of the first buildings, moving his store to the new
town within two da%-s after the first train ran into Miltonvale. On the
night of July 9, 1883, a disastrous fire visited Miltonvale and Scott's
drug store and residence, in the rear, were destroyed, but owing to the
energ}' of an insurance agent he had $1,000 insurance, and within two
weeks bought out his former competitor. Dr. S. V. Fairchild, and for
several months had the only drug store in the thriving town of Milton-
vale. On July 29, 1881, a daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. Scott and
was christened Jessie Belle Scott, and on August 7, 1884, Oren Dempster
Scott, their third child, was born.
On December 24, 1884, Mr. Scott sold the drug store and l>egan reading
li.A in the office of A. J. Blackwood at Miltonvale. lie was admitted to
practice in the district court of Cloud county at Concordia on August 18,
1886. In Septem1)er he left Miltonvale with a team and bus^gy and drove
to Concordia, thence to Mankato, Smith Center, Phillipsburg, Xorton,
Oberlin, Atwood and Bird City, and decided to locate at Atwood. In
November he and his wife and three children left Miltonvale and went
by rail and stage to Stratton, Neb., from which point they drove thirty
miles southeast to Atwood, arriving on November 25, 1886, that being
Thanksgiving day. There were about 200 inhabitants at that time.
Within sixty days G. \V. Holdrege and other officers of the Burling-
ton railroad came to Atwood and explained that they were .going to
build a railroad up the Beaver valley, and that Atwood, nestling in the
beautiful valley, which is unsurpassed by any in the State, was unfor-
tunate for the reason that it was not a practical place for the company
to build a roundhouse and machine shops. This they were going to do
at Blakcman, five miles west of Atwood. The town fight was on and
raged all through the year 1887, the railroad company moving houses
and buildings to Blakeinan, free of charge, and giving the owners of the
buildings lots in Blakeman, Dempster Scott cast his lot with .\twood,
and in company with S. T. Lloyd, Albert Hemming. S. H. Tindell. John
M. Burton, M. A. Wilson, F. R. Morgan, J. C. Arbuckle, Frank E. Robin-
son and others put up the strongest town fight that the Burlington peo-
ple ever experienced, and which lasted for three years. For years the
railroad company had moved towns here and there in Nbraska, always
locating them on their own town sites, and county seats were like pawns
on a chessboard in their hands. To the west of .\twood they moved
Celia to McDonald, three miles. In Cheyenne county they moved Wano
to St. Francis, two and one-half miles, and moved the county scat from
84 niOGRAPHICAL
Bird City to St. Francis. In Rawlins county thej' spent thousands of
dollars circulating a petition calling for a county seat election, accom-
panying the petition through the county with a four-horse load of flour,
and giving every signer a sack of flour. Atwood partisans followed on
their trail with a remonstrance and strike-off, which remonstrated against
the calling of an election, and asked that the signer's name be stricken
from any petition that he may have signed in favor of having the elec-
tion called. Fully sixty per cent, of all who signed the first petition
signed the remonstrance and strike-off, and finally at the trial in the
supreme court Atwood was victorious and no election was called. The
victory was celebrated at Atwood by a barbecue and a day of speech-
making and general rejoicing. Dviring the fight employees of the rail-
road openly boasted that they owned the courts in Nebraska and would
in Kansas before the fight was over. The company refused to put a
depot at Atwood until so ordered by the State Board of Railroad Com-
missioners, and then set off a boxcar to be used as a station. This is
history, and Blakeman is now deserted, being a whistling station.
In 1887, 1888, 1889 and 1890 farm loans were promiscuously nego-
tiated throughout the country and a heavy crop of mortgages were har-
vested in Rawlins county, many of the settlers leaving as soon as they
got their farm loan. In 1890 there was a complete crop failure. In 1891
and 1892 there were good crops, but many of the people had left. In
1893, 1894, 1895 and 1896 the crops were failures and hundreds of the.
remaining settlers left, but Scott stayed and struggled on with his law
practice. In April, 1903, he and his son. Charley, who attended the
Kansas University in 1898 and 1899, bought the Republican "Citizen"
newspaper, which was founded here in 188 1, and published the paper
until October, 1909, when they sold it.
Dempster Scott lived on a farm until 1880 and his school advantages
were meager. .-Mthough thus handicapped he has persevered with zeal
and untiring industry in the practice of law, until now he is ranked
as one of the ablest lawyers in northwest Kansas, and enjoys a large
practice, extending into Cheyenne, Sherman and Thomas counties, and
he and his wife are happily located in one of the best residencs of At-
wood, surrounded with forest and fruit trees over a foot in diameter,
which they planted years ago. Their son. Charley, lives just across the
street, and his little boys, Dempster and Beverly, are at Grandpa's every
day. Charley was admitted to the practice of law years ago and is in
partnership with his father, the firm being Dempster Scott & Son.
Mr. Scott's daughter, Jessie, married C. C. Blood, of Illinois, and they
and their daughter, Lois, are located at McDonald, twenty miles west of
Atwood. Orcn Dempster is a jeweler and optician, and with his wife
and son, Hayes, lives at St. Francis, fifty miles west of .\twood, where
he has a good business.
Dempster Scott was a charter member of Atwood Lodge No. 164.
BIOGRAPHICAL Sj
Ancient Free and Accepted ^lasons, and became a member of Atwood
Chapter No. 84, Royal Arch Masons, shortly after its organization, on
June 20, 1902. He was also made a Knight Templar in Atwood Com-
mandery. Knights Templar, No. 54, shortly after its institution, which
was on May 30, 1910. Mr. Scott has always been an active and energetic
man and has been closely identified with all movements for the upbuild-
ing of Atwood and Rawlins county.
A. C. Blume, the first settler and first postmaster, first school teacher
and first county commissioner in Rawlins county, Kansas, was born in
the Province of Hanover, in Germany, May 21, 1842, son of C. A. Blume,
who was a judge in the court of Germany. After attending school for
a short time our subject was engaged as a traveling salesman for an
umbrella and jjarasol house, traveling all over Germany.
In August, 1865, Mr. Blume came to America, landing the 28th of
that month, after two months on the ocean. He first settled at Buckeye,
Iowa, where he was employed as a section hand on the railroad. Here
he worked about three and a half years, and in 1869 went to ^lichigan
and was employed as foreman of a construction gang on the Fort Wayne,
Jackson & Saginaw railroad. From there he went to Detroit and
secured a position as roadmaster of the Detroit, Lansing & Lake Michi-
gan railroad. After one year with this company he was taken sick
and had very poor health for two or three years, in which time he went
to Angola, Ind., where he was for soine time under the care of physi-
cians, who at last advised him to come west. Accordingly, in 1873,
he came to Crete, Neb., where he remained for some time under the care
of phvsicians, and after s])cnding all his money was at last cured by
a simple remedy recommended by the neighbors. In 1875 he started
for Kansas in a wagon, looking for a home, and in May of that year
settled on the land where his home is now located. The Indians came
through the country frightening the settlers, and for a day and a half
Mr. Blume lay behind a bank o-f earth on his place, afraid to build a fire
or to be seen. He then went to Kirwin, Kan., where he took out home-
stead papers, and continued on to Crete, Neb.
In the spring of 1S76 Mr. Blume brought his wife to Kansas, and
they I'lved in the dug-out which he had made when he first came to the
State. As there was not very much here to do for a living, Mr. Rhime
left his wife in Kansas and returned to Crete, Neb., to work. After
working there all summer he started to Kansas, and as his team was
mortgaged, he walk'ed all the way, taking seven days for the trip. Tliey
had but $58.00 to provide themselves with food and clothing for a year.
The next spring he walked back to Crete, worked all summer and re-
turned on foot in the fall. In the spring of 1878 he again walked to
Crete and in May returned with two parties to locate land, and when
this was done drove back to the same town, remaining there until the
raid of 1878, when he took the train to Kc.-iiiic\ . Xrh . from which pl.ice
86 ^ BIOGRAPHICAL
he went b}' the Union Pacific to Plum Creek, walking from that place
to his home. It was two weeks after the raid before he heard of it,
but when the news reached him he made the trip as hurriedly as possible.
On his return he found some cattlemen in his neighborhood, and worked
for them at 75 cents per day, which enabled him to live.
Mr. Blume then engaged in farming and stock raising. On December
16, 1876, he was appointed postmaster of Prag, now Ludell, Kan., and the
signers of the petition for postmaster were secured at Hardy, Neb. In
1881 the county of Rawlins was organized and Mr. Blume was on the
first board of county commissioners. The board met in June 1881, and
ordered the election for July 6 of that year to organize the county
and locate the county seat. He was elected commissioner at this election
and served continuously until 1889. He has been township trustee five
times, having been elected for the fifth time at the last election. He
also organized and taught the first school,, which was a private institu-
tion, so that he was the" first teacher, first settler, first postmaster and
first county commissioner of his county. At the time Mr. Blume was
postmaster he had to bring the mail from Cannerville, in Decatur county,
making the trip on foot. The nearest railroad station was on the Kan-
sas Pacific, sixty-six miles south. During all of the intervening years
our subject has been farming and raising stock, and has added to his
original homestead until he now has 520 acres of land in his farm on
Beaver creek, near Ludell. He is a member of the Independent Order
of Odd Fellows.
On September 17, 1870, Mr. Blume was married, in .Angola, Ind., to
Miss Ella S. Miner, daughter of Milo Miner, a native of Indiana, and a
descendant of early Pilgrims, to whom he can trace his ancestry. ]\[r.
Miner was a farmer, but had retired at the time of his daughter's mar-
riage to Mr. Blume. Mrs. Blume was born and raised in Indiana, where
she attended the common schools and later graduated from college. Mr.
and ^Irs. Blume have had six children : William A., now located in
Idaho ; Ollie, married to IMartin F. Akers, and living in New ]\Iexico ;
Carl M., located in Oregon, a carpenter by trade ; Henry died in infancy ;
Rexford R. and George A., now farming the homestead. Rexford at-
tended the Grand Island Business and Normal College for one year.
Mrs. Blume died August 26, 1909.
John W. Bartleson, president of the Beloit State Bank, of Beloit,
Kan., is a striking example of what ability, coupled with industry and
close application to business, will do for the average poor boy who has
the determination to win. John W. Bartleson is a native of Illinois,
and was born at Grand Chain, August 16, 1846. He is a son of John and
IMary ^^^ (Chapman) Bartleson. The father was a native of Virginia,
born in 1801, and in 1843 removed to southern Illinois. He was a
tailor by occupation and worked at his trade until the breaking out of
the war with Mexico, when he, together with two sons, Edwin and
BIOGRAPHICAL 87
Augustus C, enlisted in an Illinois com])any, and upon its organization
was elected lieutenant of the company, which was assigned to the
Second Illinois infantry, and was killed at the battle of Buena Vista, to-
gether with all the officers of his company. Our subject's mother was
a native of Stark county, Ohio, and was born in 1809 of New England
parents. John W. Barlleson was one of a family of thirteen children,
twelve of whom grew to maturity and reared families, one dying in
infanc}'. Their names are as follows in the order of birth : Edwin, born
in 1826, deceased; Augustus, born in 1827, retired farmer and stockman,
Muskogee, Okla. ; Robert B. and William W. (twins), born in 1829,
both deceased; Amanda, born in 1830, deceased; Eliza S., born in 1832,
now the widow of N. P. Tarr, Alound City, 111.; James, born in 1834,
now a farmer and stockman at Olmsted, 111. ; Warren K., born in 1835,
wholesale grocer, Jacksonville, Fla. ; .\ratus, born in J838, deceased;
Mary Jane, born in 1839, deceased ; .\Ionzo, born in 1844, deceased, and
John W'., the subject. Eight of the brothers served in the late Civil
war, all returning to their homes at the close of the war except .Alonzo,
who was a member of the Eighteenth Illinois infantry, who died while
in camp at Cairo, 111. The mother died January 4, 1868. at Grand Chain,
111. She lived to see all her children grown up and married. They all
lived near the old homestead and in her declining years the mother took
much pleasure and satisfaction in visiting among them. She was a de-
vout Christian woman and a lifelong member of the Christian church.
Mr. Bartleson was educated in the common schools of Pulaski county,
working on the farm in the summer and attending school in the winter
terms.
About the time that young Bartleson was approaching the age of
manhood the country was absorbed in the greatest struggle of its exist-
ence for the preservation of the Union, and while yet a mere boy he
enlisted October 9, 1863, in Company I, Eighty-first Illinois volunteer in-
fantry. His brother, James, was captain of the company. The regiment
operated with the Army of the Tennessee and participated in many
important expeditions and engagements. .Xt the battle of Guntown,
Miss., June 10, 1864, one hundred and twenty-five members of this
regiment were taken prisoners and private John ^^^ Bartleson was one
of the number. He was confined in the Confederate prisons at Ander-
sonville, Milan, and Savannah until November 26, when he was paroled
and sent to Annapolis, Md. From there he went home on a furlough,
where he remained for a time, when he went to Benton Barracks, St.
Louis, Mo., where he was exchanged, in .\pril, 1865. and returned to his
regiment at Montgomery, /\la., remaining in the service until July 14,
1865, when he received an honorable discharge. Thus closed a military
career of which any man might be justly proud. He endured the many
hardships incident to soldier life, on the march, in camp and on the field
of battle, but the supreme test of Ininian endurance was life in the Con-
88 BIOGRAPHICAL
federate prisons, and Mr. Bartleson had his full share of this feature of
war. He was slightl}- wounded at Guntown, Miss. At the close of the
war he returned to his Illinois home, where he remained until 1872,
when he came to Kansas, locating a soldier's claim in Center township,
Mitchell county. During the first five years in Kansas he lived in a
dug-out and in 1878 built a frame house, which was his home until
1886, when he removed to Beloit, where he has since resided. Mr.
Bartleson has prospered in all his undertakings and has acquired a
great deal of land. He owns several well improved and valuable farms
in Mitchell county.
Mr. Bartleson was first married February 28, 1867, in Massac county,
Illinois, to Miss Melissa C. Copeland. She died March' 19, 1870, at
Grand Chain, 111. To this union were born two children, both of whom
died in infancy. On February 8, 1872, Mr. Bartleson was united in mar-
riage to Miss Mary L. Anderson, of Aliens Spring. 111. They became the
parents of ten children, seven of whom are living, as follows : Clarence
P., born March 16, 1875, now cashier of the Beloit State Bank, Beloit,
Kan. ; Maurice W., born October 10, 1876, salesman, Kansas City, Mo. ;
Silas L., born February 10, 1878, farmer, i\Iitchell county ; Elsie L., born
May 26, 1879, married Ray L. IMcClelland, bookkeeper, Pittsburgh, Pa. ;
Maud E., born December 19, 1882, now the wife of Ralph E. Boyles, elec-
tric engineer, Montreal, Canada ; John H., born March 22, 1884, building
contractor, Denver, Col. ; and Mary B., born June 16, 1888, attending
college at Pittsburgh, Pa. The wife and mother departed this life De-
cember 31, 1902, and on October 5, 1910, our subject was married to
Miss Ida M., daughter of William C. and Mary A. (Piper) Cochran, of
Beloit, Kan., the former a native of Monmouth, 111., where he was born
November 13, 1838, and the latter was a native of Glasgow, Ky. They
now reside in Beloit Kan. W'illiam C. Cochran is a veteran of the Civil
war, having served in Company D, Thirteenth Iowa volunteer infantry,
and was discharged on account of physical disabilities. In 1870 he came
to Mitchell county and farmed until within the last few j'ears, when he
came to Beloit, where he has since lived a retired life. For j-ears.John
W. Bartleson has been a prominent figure in central Kansas finance. In
1887 the Beloit State Bank, one of the pioneer banking institutions of
Mitchell county, was organized and he became one of the directors. He
became its president in 1898 and has since that time been a dominant
factor and the active head of this institution, which is considered one of
the substantial banking houses of the State. Mr. Bartleson is also inter-
ested in the insurance and loan business and has other extensive business
interests in addition to these. He has had an active and successful career
and is one of the progressive and prominent business men of the State.
Politically he has always been an active Republican and served as regis-
ter of deeds of Mitchell county from 1886 to 1890, which has been the
extent of his office holding career, as he has been primarily a business
BIOGRAPHICAL 89
man and not a politician. He is a member of the Christian church at
Beloit, Kan., and also a member of Mt. Vernon Lodge No. 145, Ancient
Free and Accepted Masons; Beloit Chapter No. 47, Royal Arch Masons;
Gyrene Commandery No. 23, Knights Templar, Beloit ; a Noble of the
Mystic Shrine, of Isis Temple. Salina, Kan., and is a Thirty-second
degree Scottish Rite Mason, lie is also a member of the Grand Army
of the Republic, Beloit Post No. 147; the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Sons and
Daughters of Justice.
John S. Elder, clerk of Rawlins county, was born in ^Montgomery
count}-, Illinnis, June i, 1852, son of John M. and Roseau (Webber)
Elder, the former a native of Kentucky, of English descent, and the latter
a native of Switzerland, who came to America in 1833. John M. Elder
was a farmer and stock raiser in IMontgomery county, Illinois, where
the subject of our sketch was born and raised. He attended the common
schools and later the Hillsboro Academy at Hillsboro, 111.
After leaving school Mr. Elder taught in the rui^al districts of Bond
and Montgomery counties for two years. In 1873 he went to Fairfield,
Clay county, Nebraska, w'here he taught school for one year, after
which he attended the law department of the Kentucky University for
six months, and then for five years taught school in Dj'cusburg, Ky.,
during which time he continued to read law. Returning at the end of
this time to Clay county, Nebraska, Mr. Elder taught at Spring Ranch
for two j'ears. In 1879 he came to Kansas and took a hometsead in
Rawlins county, where he was the teacher of the first public school,
the school house of the only district in the county being located at At-
wood. He had no pupils the first term. After teaching two terms he
was elected county superintendent of public instruction for Rawlins
county in the fall of 1885, and served one term, in which time he or-
ganized fifty districts and also ran a store at Celia, Kan. The first
school house at Atwood was part dug-out and part log, but during Mr.
Elder's second term a frame building was put up and it is now the
Baptist church building at Atwood.
Mr. Elder put up the first building at Celia. but when the railroad
came through McDonald he moved to that town. He then taught
school for two years, after which he removed to Blakeman, Kan., and
after teaching school for one year at that place he became manager
of the Howard Lumber Company at Blakeman. He held this position
for three years, and in 1896 was appointed mine officer of the Kansas
State penitentiary, .serving two years in this capacity. Mr. Elder re-
turned to Rawlins county and taught school for several terms, at the
end of which time he received the appointment as .shipping clerk of the
Kansas State penitentiary, his duty being to ship out all the products
manufactured in the institution. This position he held for ten years and
three months. In 1910 Mr. I'^lder went to TuIIeride, Col., where he was
90 BIOGRAPHICAL
employed for eighteen months as manager of the Ionia Mining Com-
pany. In August, 191 1, he came back to Rawlins county and made the
race for the office of county clerk on the Republican ticket, and was
elected, taking the office January i, 1913. Mr. Elder is a member of the
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.
On December 25, 1878, Mr. Elder was married in Crittenden county,
Kentucky, to Miss Mattie Hildreth, daughter of William and Sarah
(Fleming) Hildreth, natives of Kentucky, where she was born and raised,
and attended the common schools. They had two children : Ollie P.,
who married Nelson \^ezina, and now lives in Lansing, Kan. ; Guy W.,
who is now agent for the Missouri Pacific railroad at Kelly, Kan. The
wife and mother died in June, 1885.
Mr. Elder was married the second time on November 27, 1887, to
Miss Maggie E. Hill, daughter of Ephraim and Elizabeth (Alexander)
Hill, natives of Ohio, Mrs. Elder having been born in Darke county of
that State, where she was raised till the age of sixteen, attending the
common schools. The Hill family came to Kansas, locating in Rawlins
county, where Mr. Hill engaged in farming, and the wife of the subject of
this sketch taught school ten terms and was editor of the Blakeman
"Register" one 3'ear before her marriage. They had one child, Mabel
E., who died in January, 191 1. Mrs. Elder died June 22, 1912, leaving
her husband and one adopted son, Donald.
Latham E. Harrison, banker, of St. Francis, and one of its foremost
citizens, having been the first mayor of the town, a pioneer merchant,
and legislator from Cheyenne county, was born August 5, 1866, in Tama
county, Iowa, near Marshalltown, son of Rev. David and Margaret
(Adair) Harrison, natives of Ohio, who came to Iowa in 1853, where
Rev. Harrison was engaged as a minister of the Methodist Episcopal
church. In 1878 the Harrison family came to Kansas and located in
Jewell county, at Jewell Center, now the town of Mankato. The piece
of ground where the subject's sister once lived in a sod house is now in
the center of Mankato, and his father's house now occupies the same
site.
Rev. Harrison preached in sod churches and dug-outs in the early
days ; is a veteran of the Civil war, and at present still lives in Mankato.
The name of the town was changed from Jewell Center to Mankato
about three years after the Harrisons located here, and our subject re-
ceived his education in the schools of that city.
After leaving school Mr. Harrison went to work on the Mankato
"Jewellite," a newspaper of Mankato, and later was with the Burr Oak
"Herald," Jewell County "Review," and "Monitor," a paper still pub-
lished in Mankato. After two years in newspaper work, he traveled one
year for his brother, who owned a music house in Mankato. He was
then employed in the general mercantile business of L. M. Butts, where
he remained until the winter of 1888. At this time he removed to Cam-
inOGRAPHICAL 9I
bridge, Neb., continuing in the mercantile line for a short time, until his
brother, who had located in St. Francis, called him to this town on pre-
tended sickness in order to induce him to locate here. He was prevailed
upon to handle a stock of goods that had been taken over by a bank, and
for that purpose located in St. Francis in 1889. lie worked one year as
manager of the store for the bank, at the end of which time he and his
brother bought out the party who had bought the stock and embarked in
the mercantile business under the firm name of Harrison Bros. They
remained in partnership until 1S96, when Latham Harrison bouglit his
brother out. He continued in business and today he is the leading mer-
chant of St. Francis. Two years ago Mr. Harrison took his two sons
into the business, which is now known as the Harrison Mercantile Com-
pany.
In 1896 Mr. Harrison organized the Cheyenne County State Bank,
and has been its president since the organization. He was the first
mayor of St. Francis and for nine years was president of the Cheyenne
County High School. In 1904 he was elected representative of Cheyenne
county to the legislature, in which body he served on the following com-
mittees : Count}' lines and county seats, penal institutions, banks and
banking, and irrigation. He introduced House Bill No. 123, relating to
sugar beet bounty, and Bill No. 599, relating to the city of St. Francis.
Mr. Harrison is a member of the Bankers' Association of Kansas, of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Ancient Order of l"nited Work-
men, the Modern Woodmen of America, and of the Methodist Episco-
pal church.
Mr. Harrison was married June 27, 1888, to Cora Tippin. daughter of
G. M. and Jennie (Montgomery) Tippin, of Mankato. Kan. Her father
was a native of Indiana and her mother of Ohio, and llicy took a home-
stead in Jewell county, near Mankato, in i88c5. Here Mr. Tippin engaged
in farming and stock raising. Mrs. Harrison was born in Page county,
Iowa, where she began her education, finishing in the schools of Jewell
county. She was a teacher before her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Ilarrison
have four children : Benjamin G., Harry D., Ilollis and Manette. I'en-
jamin G. and Harry D. graduated from the county high school and at-
tended the Kansas A\'csleyan L'niversity, after which they engaged in
business with their father. Hollis is now attending the Kansas Wes-
leyan University and Manette is a graduate of the county high school,
in the class of 191,^. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal
church and all take an active part in church work.
Josiah Crosby, of St. Francis, Kan., president of the St. Francis Tele-
phone Company, and a dealer in grain and broom corn, was horn in Bel-
mont county, Ohio, August 12. 1856. son of Oliver IT. P. and Margaret
(Trott) Crosby, of Maryland, the former being a farmer and stockman
of that State.
Josiah Crosbj- was raised in Belmont county, Ohio, and received his
92 BIOGRAPHICAL
early education in the common schools. His father died when the boy
was but ten j-ears of age, and immediately he started in life for himself.
He farmed and raised stock until twenty-six years of age. In 1884 he
left Ohio and came to Kansas, locating in Jewell county in the spring
of 1885, where he purchased a farm and remained two years. In 1887
he removed to Cheyenne county, took a homestead and farmed until the
spring of 1892. In the fall of 1891 he was elected sheriff of Cheyenne
county and served two terms. He then purchased a ranch and engaged
in stock raising, continuing in this business until 1907.
In 1896 Mr. Crosby was elected representative from Cheyenne county
to the State legislature, and served three successive terms, during all of
which time he was a member of the educational committee and was a
member of that body at the time the textbook law was drafted. During
his first term he was chairman of the claims and accounts committee. In
1904 ]\Ir. Crosby was elected county attorney, and served two years,
after which he devoted his entire time to his ranch, until 1907, when he
sold it and removed to St. Francis. Since 1892 he has been engaged in
broomcorn buying and shipping. For five years Cheyenne county was
the banner county of Kansas for broomcorn. Since moving to St. Fran-
cis Mr. Crosb}' has added grain and hay to his broomcorn business,
and has three warehouses on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy tracks.
The firm is known as Josiah Crosby & Son. In 1904 Mr. Crosby,
with other local parties, bought the St. Francis Telephone Company,
which at that time had a very small system. He has since extended
its lines to connect with, the Bell system and with the Consolidated
systems, but the St. Francis Telephone Company still is an independent
concern, owned and operated by local capital, Mr. Crosby being its
president. He is also a stockholder in the St. Francis "Herald,'" a local
newspaper. Mr. Crosby is a Democrat, a member of the Ancient Free
and Accepted Masons and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
In October, 1877, ^'Ir. Crosby was married to Malinda Miller, daugh-
ter of A. J. and Margaret (Shuman) Miller, of Batesville. Ohio. Both
her parents were born in Ohio, but the family came from Pennsylvania,
and is of German origin. Mr. Miller was engaged in farming and stock
raising. Mrs. Crosby was born in Batesville, Ohio, raised on a farm
with her parents and attended common schools. Mr. and Mrs. Crosby
have nine children : Homer M., Clarence M., Laura, Margaret, Elizabeth,
Florida, Gail, Theda and Marie. Laura is married to William Linning;
Margaret married R. R. Turner; Florida is married to Fred Hammers;
Elizabeth is married to Frank Confer, and they all live in Cheyenne
county. Clarence M. is married to Minnie Lockard. Gail is now in the
high school at St. Francis and Theda and Marie are attending the com-
mon schools. Mr. Crosby has always been identified with educational
affairs, serving on the school board of his district, also having organized
a number of districts.
BIOGRAPHICAL 93
George T. Tremble. — Honored and respected by all, there is no man
in Ellsworth county who occupies a more enviable position in banking
and financial circles than the man whose name heads this review. It is
not alone because of the brilliant success he has achieved, but on account
of the straightforward business policy he has ever followed that places
Mr. Tremble among the leading bankers of Kansas. He was born near
Green Bay, Brown county, Wisconsin, February 12, 1870, the son of Mar-
tin E. and Saram M. (Cook) Tremble. The elder Tremble was a native
of Keysville, Clinton county, New York, a lumberman who owned mills
at Big Suamico, Wis., with wholesale and retail lumber yards at Racine,
Wis. He also owned a line of lumber schooners and was regarded as
one of the successful and wealthy lumbermen in a notable lumber coun-
try, until his death in 1882. Mrs. Tremble passed away in 1875, when
George Tremble was still a child and upon the death of his father he
went to live with an uncle, David S. Beach, of Marshall, Mich. The
boy received his early education in the public schools of Marsall, grad-
uating from the high school in 1888. That summer he came to Kansas
determined to cast his lot with the .Sunflower State and make his for-
tune in the West. Locating at Wilson, Ellsworth county, he accepted a
position as bookkeeper in the Wilson State Bank, but in 1889 returned
to Michigan on account of the death of his uncle. 1 lavinsr come to see
that a good education was the best equipment for the battle of life Mr.
Tremble entered the literary department of the L'niversity of Michigan,
graduating with the class of 1894. The same year he returned to Kan-
sas and was elected the cashier of the Central National Bank of Ells-
worth in July, and served in this capacity until 1908, when he was
elected president of the institution, succeeding B. S. Westfall, and is
still serving as the executive head of the bank.
The Central National Bank is one of the strong banking houses of
Kansas. Money could not buy the place it holds on the roll of honor.
It stands first in the city of Ellsworth ; fir^t in the county of Ellsworth;
fifth in the State of Kansas; and 357th among the 7,500 National banks
in the United States; and of the 300 National banks within the State
onlv twenty-three are in such condition and so substantial as to be
entitled to positions on the roll of honor, where this bank has been
placed by the determination and executive ability of its officers. In 1912
the bank had a capital of $50,000; surplus of $125,000, and deposits of
■$625,000. It was established in 1885 as the Farmers' and Mechanics'
Bank, the princijial owners being C. F. McGrew, president ; J. W.
Powers, cashier, and G. W. Clawson. A year later a National charter
was taken out, under which the bank still operates. The presidents of
the bank have been as follows: C. F. McGrew, January to July, 1886;
G. \y. Clawson, July, 1886, to January, 1889; M. P. Westfall, January.
1889, to May, 1891 ; II. Ranimelsberg. 1891 to 1894; B. S. Westfall, 1894
to 1908 and George T. Tremble since that date. The cashiers during
94 BIOGR.\PHICAL
this period have been: J. W. Powers, 1886 to 1887: E. H. Tenney, 1887
to 1888: M. K. Brundage, 1888 to 1889; B. S. Westfall, 1889 to 1894;
G. T. Tremble, 1894 to 1908, and B. L. Gardiner since 1908. From the
first opening of its door the bank has been regarded as a substantial in-
stitution, having some of the strongest and best residents of the county
on the board of directors, who are as follows : G. F. Tremble, president ;
E. D. Schermerhorn, vice-president ; B. L. Gardiner, cashier ; Frederick
Melchert, of Lorraine, Kan., a retired farmer; F. A. Meryweather, cap-
italist ; J. R. McLavrin. capitalist, and Joseph Kalina, St.. a retired man
of Ellsworth. Mr. Tremble is also president of the Frederick State
Bank, vice-president of the Bank of Holyrood, and a director in the Wil-
son State Bank and Citizens' State Bank, of Dorrance, Kan. He is
president of the Ellsworth Oil and Development Company, and treas-
uerer of the Ellsworth Salt Company. In politics he is an Independent,
but has served three terms as mayor of Ellsworth, and during his term
in office was instrumental in securing the refunding of the bonded in-
debtedness of the city, amounting to about $130,000. While he was
mayor the new water works and pumping plant were constructed at a
cost of $12,000. Mr. Tremble is a very capable business man and
banker ; he is a large landowner and one of the progressive and enthu-
siastic boosters of Ellsworth and Kansas. In ^lasonry he has attained
the Knight Templar and Scottish Rite degrees; is a member of Aide-
mar Commandery of Ellsworth, ^^'ichita Consistory and Isis Temple
Shrine, of Salina. On June i, 1904, Mr. Tremble married ^lary, the
daughter of the late Col. Edward C. Culp, one of Salina's prominent citi-
zens. The family consists of three children : Edward Culp, born April
21. 1906; Martin Eggleston, born ^lay 3, 1907, and George T., Jr., born
May 3, igo8.
Frank Sharon Foster. — In the progress and development of this great
commonwealth, no factor has exercised more influence than the press,
which not only reflects public opinion but forms it and plays an im-
portant part in the politics of the State. Ellsworth county has been for-
tunate in the character of its newspapers, which are progressive, ever
advancing the interests of central Kansas and endeavoring to uphold
justice in the community. Prominent among the men who control the.
journalistic interests of central Kansas is Frank Sharon Foster, who
was born at Birmingham, Van Buren count}', Iowa, November 12, 1862.
He received his elementary education in the public schools of Bloomfield.
Iowa, but while still a lad realized that a good education was essential
to a man who would become a successful journalist. With this end in
view he entered the literary department of the University of Kansas,
graduating with the class of 1885. During the summer following the
completion of his college course Mr. Foster came to Ellsworth and pur-
chased a half interest in the Ellsworth "Xews," which was founded in
1880 by Z. Jackson. The firm name of the new concern was Collett &
BIOGKAI'MICAL 95
Foster. Tliey changed the name of the paper to the Ellsworth "Demo-
crat," and in 1891 renamed it the Ellsworth "Messenger." Three years
later Mr. Foster purchased his partner's interest in the publication, since
which time he has been the sole owner and editor. The "Messenger" is
a weekly, with a circulation of over 1,700. It reaches homes all over the
county and exerts an influence that cannot be measured. In connection
with the "Messenger" Mr. Foster has a job printing establishment, the
largest in Ellsworth county, which has proved a most profitable invest-
ment under his able management. In politics Mr. Foster is an ardent
supporter of the Democratic party. He was elected county clerk in 1892,
but refused renomination. In 1896 he was a delegate to the Democratic
State convention, and for many years has been secretary of the Ells-
worth county central committee. Since 1894 he has served as city clerk
of Ellsworth, a position which his training well qualifies him to fill. Mr.
Foster's fraternal associations are with the Masonic order and the An-
cient Order of United Workmen. He is a Knight Templar Mason and is
a past commander of St. Aldemar Commandery No. 33. On June 8,
1891, Mr. Foster married MoUie B., the daughter of Alexander Sheriff,
a pioneer resident of Ellsworth. There are two children in the famil}'.
Xorman McLeod, born December 5, 1894, and Frank Sharon, Jr., born
August 8, 1906. The family are members of the Presbyterian church.
Arthur Dale Jellison, banker and one of the leading representatives
of business interests in Ellsworth county, was born at Wilson, Kan.,
June 18, 1876, a son of Asa Adams and Catherine Ann Stahl Jellison.
Asa Adams Jellison was a native of the State of New York, and his
mother was a descendant of John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts.
Asa Adams Jellison's early life was spent in New York, Ohio and Illi-
nois. In 1872 he came to Kansas and located in Ellsworth county, being
one of the founders of Wilson. He was a natural progressive in all
matters, was one of the pioneer merchants and a ])rominent stockman
of that section. In politics he was a Republican and took an active part
in politics, but would not accept public office, though he served several
terms as ma3'or of Wilson. Mr. Jellison was the chief organizer of the
first church in Wilson — the Presbyterian, and a large contributor to the
building fund, which he raised. He was one of the organizers of the
Wilson State Bank and the Rank of Holyrood. Ever working for the
benefit and improvement of the community in which he lived, he con-
tributed largely to the growth and prosperity of Wilson. In 1896 he
passed away, being survived by his widow, who died May 23, 1912. The
lollowing children survive: .\lbert C, of Portland. Ore., an extensive
timber and land owner; William C, of Portland, Ore., the president of
the Estacoda National Bank, of Estacoda, Ore., and who is interested in
lumber and various other enterprises; Charles R., assistant cashier of the
Wilson State Dank, and Arthur Dale, who was reared in Wilson.
Arthur Dale Jellison received his preliminary educatimi in tlie ])ul)lic
96 BIOGRAPHICAL
schools of his native town and then graduated from the Kansas Wes-
leyan Business College, of Salina, in the fall of 1893. Soon after leaving
college he entered the Wilson State Bank in a minor capacity, but
showed such ability in the banking business that he was rapidly pro-
moted, successively filling the positions of assistant cashier, cashier and
president, succeeding Benjamin Westfall, who died in 1908.
The ^^'ilson State Bank ranks among the first five of the Kansas insti-
tutions. It was organized in 1886 and has a capital of $40,000, surplus
of $80,000, undivided profits of $20,000, and deposits of 8400.000. The
bank has the finest of modern furnishings and equipment ; the offices
are the finest of any State bank in Kansas, as all the wood is mahogany
and the metal work bronze. Mr. Jellison is regarded as one of the able
and most substantial bankers in central Kansas. In addition to his
interests at Wilson he is president of the Bank of Holyrood, vice-presi-
dent of the Citizens" State Bank, of Dorrance, a director of the Sylvan
State Bank of Sylvan Grove, of the First National Bank of Luray, and
of the Frederick State Bank ; and the present treasurer of the Kansas'
Bankers' Association. He is also a director of the Farmers' and Bankers'
Life Insurance Compan}-, of Wichita, of the Ellsworth Salt Company,
and owns about 1,000 acres of fine farming land near Wilson. He is
heavily interested in a 14,000-acre tract of land at Hill City, and in the
Page City Irrigation Company. For many years he was a member of
the firm of Jellison Brothers, founded by his elder brother, which con-
ducted an extensive lumber business at Wilson. Mr. Jellison is a stanch
supporter of the Republican party ; and for fifteen years has served as
township treasurer ; he has been mayor of Wilson and has been clerk of
the school board for several years. He takes a deep interest in educa-
tional affairs or any movement which tends toward the development of
the town or its institutions. In 1910 he gave the high school play-
ground to the town. He is a Knight Templar and Scottish Rite Mason,
member of the Isis Temple Shrine of Salina, and a member of the Inde-
pendent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a trustee of the Presbyterian
church, giving liberally to the building fund for the new edifice and -it
was due largely to his activity that the new building was secured. On
December 20, 1899, Mr. Jellison married Maude S., the daughter of Rich-
ard Gifford, a pioneer farmer of Wilson. Mrs. Jellison is very popular
socially and is one of the leaders of Wilson and Ellsworth county. Mr.
Jellison is an energetic man, fond of outdoor sports and athletics, being
one of the most popular men of Wilson.
Arthur Larkin, dece'ased, one of the honored pioneers of this great
commonwealth, served faithfully and long in the West. He was one
of the founders of the city of Ellsworth, and one of its most active and
prominent builders. Mr. Larkin was born in Dublin Ireland, August 20,
1832. When a mere lad of sixteen he landed in New York, a poor boy,
determined to make his fortune in the new world. He landed in this
BIOGRAPHICAL 97
country in 1848, and for a few months remained in Kew York, when he
went to Fort Clark, Texas, and enlisted in the United States service
in the Mexican war, in Captain Ford's company of Texas Rangers, and
at the close of that war he enlisted in the regular army service until 1861,
when he was honorably discharged on account of disability at Fort
Leavenworth. Me was first sergeant of his company at the time. After
leaving the army he engaged in freighting by team to Denver, Col., but
in the fall of 1866 gave that up to open a restaurant in Junction City,
Kan., at the same time freighting to Salina. In 1867 he located at Ells-
worth and soon built the Larkinf House, the first hotel, which was one
of the first buildings in the town. It was burned in 1869, and in 1872
Mr. Larkin erected the White House, which he operated until 1905. He
also built the American House in 1878, known today as the Baker
House, and the Rogers House. Mr. Larkin was one of the pioneer mer-
chants of Ellsworth, opening a general store there in 1868: subsequently
he established branch stores at Lincoln Center and Little River. All his
life Mr. Larkin was imbued with the spirit of progress, and was one of
the few men who had the courage of his convictions to carry out projects
that seemed ahead of his time. An example of this spirit was his erec-
tion of the first flour mil! at Ellsworth and the first elevator. In 1876
he erected the first fine store building on Douglas avenue. This was a
two-story stone structure, where he conducted a mercantile business
until 1895. f^^'s sons subsequently carried on business operations there
under the firm name of Larkins' Sons. Several other good pieces of
business property were owned by Mr. Larkin, who operated his home
farm of 200 acres south of the town ; a 480-acre tract near Frederick and
a 720-acre ranch southeast of Ellsworth. For many years he was a
breeder of Flereford cattle and an extensive feeder. He kept a fine train-
ing stable for the high-bred driving horses which he raised, which had a
wide reputation. In 1883 Mr. Larkin erected a large and elegant home
on a raise of ground south of Ellsworth overlooking the town. It
was fitted out with all modern conveniences, with private water plant,
gas well, lighting and heating systems. In addition to the beautiful
stone house there is a fine barn on the premises with every convenience
for horses and automobiles. Mr. Larkin's time was not devoted entirely
to personal affairs, as he served as county commissioner and county
treasurer of Ellsworth county. He was a member of the Grand .\riny
of the Republic and contributed liberally to the Catholic church, of
which he was a member.
In 1861 Mr. Larkin was married, at Fort Leavenworth, to Alice Beard,
who was a native of Indiana. On November 4, 191 1, Mr. Larkin passed
away, being survived by his wife and two sons: Francis Larkin, born
June 3, 1875. the manager of the .American Woodwork Manufacturing
Company, of Evansville, Ind., and Charles Larkin, who is the active
manager of the estate. Arthur Larkin, the eldest son, horn Februarv 28,
98 BIOGRAPHICAL
1871, died in 1910. He married Miss Rose Pressney, and they had three
children : Alice Verlin, born January 26, 1900, a student at Mt. Carmel
Academy, Wichita; Lawrence Pressney and Arthur 3d at home. Thomas,
Mary Ann, Edward and Hubert, children of Arthur Larkin and Alice
Beard, all died in childhood. During his life Mr. Larkin built up a name
for honesty, fair dealing and integrity, gaining for himself a place of
honor and confidence in the minds and hearts of his friends. In the
early days of frontier life he became the fast friend of William F. Cody,
better known as Buffalo Bill, and they had agreed that whenever one of
them died, the survivor was to attend the funearl of his friend, but Mr.
Cody could not be located at the time Mr. Larkin was laid away, and
the fact was deeply regretted.
James Cowie, deceased, mining engineer, and pioneer salt manufac-
turer of Kansas, was a representative of that class of substantial builders
of this great commonwealth who did his full share in establishing and
maintaining the material interests of the State. He was born February
22, 1840, at Camsland, Lenarkshire, Scotland, the son of George Cowie,
a coal mine manager, and his wife, Jennie Campbell Cowie. Reared in
Scotland, the land of hills and heather, Mr. Cowie entered a mine at
the tender age of nine, attending school at night that he might gain an
education. With the passing years his Scotch thrift, perseverance and
diligence enabled him- to w^ork up and become manager of mines, having
charge of twenty-one shafts at Kilsyth. In 1883 Mr. Cowie left his
native land for America to seek a wider field for his professional work.
One of the first pieces of engineering he undertook in this country was
the sinking of the first coal shaft at Streator, III., for Congressman
Plumb. Following this he entered the employ of the H. C. Frick Coal
and Coke Company at Mt. Pleasant, Pa., in 1885. During his connection
with this firm he sunk four shafts and put them in operation. Five
years later he became associated with the Connellsville Coke and Iron
Company at Leisenring, Pa., but after sinking three shafts became inter-
ested with S. E. Baker and P. S. Crowell, of Springfield, Ohio, and J.
M. Phelps, of Dayton, Ohio, in organizing the Royal Salt Company, of
which Mr. Cowie was made manager. The company secured 2,000 acres
of land at Kanopolis, Kan., where a vein of salt 200 feet thick was
opened 800 feet below the surface, the first salt shaft to be sunk in the
State. Over $100,000 was spent on the plant ; twenty-two tenement
houses were erected for the employes. When Mr. Cowie came to Kan-
opolis the town had only about fifty inhabitants, while he employed over
a hundred men. The project was remarkably successful, due to the
excellent management of Mr. Cowie, and became a paying proposition
from the first. He remained with the firm until 1906, when he became
associated with Paul Lanius. John McNeal and a Mr. Hummell, of Den-
ver, in the\irganization of the Crystal Salt Company, which secured a
700-acre tract of land at Kanopolis, over the same vein that the Royal
BIOGRAPHICAL 99
Salt Company's tract covers. Here a $100,000 plant was erected and put
into operation, of which Mr. Cowie was manager until his death, June 5,
191 1. Mr. Cowie owned a large interest in the plant, which has eight
tenement houses near it for the use of the employes, who number about
one hundred. Due to the large salt industry Kanopolis has the largest
freight tonnage of any station on the I'nion Pacific railroad between
Kansas City and Denver, as the output of the two plants is about 2,000
cars a year. A town of 600 population has grown up at Kanopolis, due
to the salt plants and the business they brought. Mr. Cowie is re-
garded as the real builder of the town, as he assisted with time and
money and project for civic improvements. He was a Republican in
politics and served as mayor of the town two terms. His religious affil-
iations were with the Presbyterian church, in which he was an active
worker and trustee.
Mr. Cowie married Elizabeth Barrownian, of Boness Linlithgowshire,
Scotland, who survives him. To this union were born the following
children : George Cowie, the manager of the Standard Salt Company,
Little River, Kan.; James Cowie, Jr., president of the Exchange State
Bank and manager of the Royal Salt Company, of Kanopolis, Kan. ;
Daniel Cowie, manager of the Detroit Salt Works, Detroit, Mich. ;
Jeanette, the wife of Samuel H. Hogsett, a real estate dealer of Kansas
City, Mo.; and Elizabeth, the wife of George P. Kelley, a coal and salt
operator, of Kansas City, Mo. Mr. Cowie was one of the canny Scotch-
men whose natural ability, business training and ancestral traits made
him a mining engineer of the first class, a good citizen and markedly
successful business man, although he was modest and unassuming in
manner and appearance, leaving others to learn his worth and merits
from others than himself.
James Cowie, Jr., president of the Exchange State Bank, manager of
the Royal Salt Com])any, and well known business man of Kanopolis,
Kan., was born September 9, 1865. at Kilsyth, Stirlingshire. Scotland, a
son of James and Elizabeth Barrowman Cowie, both of whom were na-
tives of Scotland. He received his early education in the schools of his
native country, and then entered the engineering school of Glasgow I'ni-
versity, where he graduated with the class i)f 1883. The same year he
came to the I'nited States with his parents, locating at Strealor, 111.,
where he compiled a map of that city. In 1885 he entered the engineering
department of the If. C. Frick Coal and Coke Company, of Mt. Pleasant,
Pa. .After being associated with this concern five years Mr. Cowie re-
signed to become superintendent of the Conncllsville Coke and Iron
Company, but in 1892 severed his connections with it to go to Dolomite,
Ala., as sui)erintendent of the mines of the Woodward Iron Company,
located there. For two years he held this position, then for ten years was
superintendent at I'.luc Creek, Ala., for the Tennessee Coal and Iron
Company. In 1902 Mr. Cowie came to Kanopolis as assistant superin-
lOO BIOGRAPHICAL
tendent of the Royal Salt Company, and four years later, when his
father resigned as superintendent, he succeeded to that position. In igo6,
with his father and W. AI. Benton, Mr. Cowie organized the Exchange
State Bank of Kanopolis, with a capital of $10,000. He became the first
president of the institution, which position he still holds. From the first
the bank prospered under the careful guidance given it by Mr. Cowie,
who has keen business insight and is regarded as one of the most con-
servative and prosperous bankers of central Kansas. In 1912 the bank
had surplus of $3,600 and deposits of $50,000. Politically, Mr. Cowie is
a supporter of the Republican party. He is a Blue Lodge Mason and a
member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. For some time he
has served as president of the board of trustee of the Presbyterian
church, of which he is a member.
In 1892 Mr. Cowie married Jennie, the daughter of Richard Thomp-
son, a mine superintendent, of Cumberland county, Maryland. They
have three children: James Cowie III, a student of Emporia College;
Richard and Martha. Mr. Cowie is a gentleman of genuine worth who
has many warm personal friends and stands high in the regard of his
business associates.
Frederick Koster has had an active and successful business career and
ranks as one of the extensive property owners of the State. He is a native
of jMassachusetts and was born in Middlefield, that State, March 28,
1852. He is a son of \\'ill!am and Elizabeth .\nn (Greenlief) Koster,
who were the parents of seven children, viz. : John S., William H., Eliz-
abeth A., George. Isabel, Frederick and Franklin, all of whom are liv-
ing with the exception of William H., who died January 20, i860. Wil-
liam Koster, the father, was born in New York City. Alay 22, 1811. and
died at Bondsville, Mass., January 3, 1858. He was a paper manufacturer
and had had a very successful career. Frederick Koster was educated
in the public schools of Bondsville, Mass., and Monson -A.cademy at
Monson, of the same State. In 1869 he went to Wisconsin, where he
worked in the pine woods of that State one year. In 1870 he and a
brother fitted themselves out with a team of oxen and a wagon and
drove to Kansas. They located on Government land in Ottawa county,
where our subject farmed for twenty-one years. He added to his orig-
inal holdings until he now owns over thirt3--three hundred acres of land.
He has been an extensive dealer in cattle and has been very successful
in that business. In 1891 he removed to Miltonvale, where he has since
made his home. Mr. Koster was married December 25, 1874, to Miss
Clara C. daughter of John B. McCoy, of Lamar. To this union six chil-
dren have been born, as follows: Cora May, born February 15, 1877,
married J. Brooks Johnson May 29, 1902. and they have one child. Brooks
Koster; Jessie Rosella, born January 31. 1880. married W. H. Shroyer,
January i, 1901, and four children have been born to them — Eva May,
born October 11, 1901 ; Ella Grace, born July 20, 1903; James Frederick,
BIOGRAPHICAL lOI
born April i8, 1904, and J. Austin, born August 18, 1909; Ella Myrtle,
born September 14, 1881. married John Hauscrman July 4, 1906; Viola
Belle, born January 23, 1884, married Eli Walker June 18, 1906, and two
children have been born to them — Oueena Esther, born August 3, 1906,
and Clifford .\ustin, born April 8, 1908; John Frederick, born January 13,
1886, married Irma Austin in 1908 and the)' have one child, John F., Jr.,
born October 25, 1909; and George Melvin, born December 27, 1898. Mr.
Koster is one of the substantial and influential citizens of central Kan-
sas, and while he has led a very active business life, devoted to private
enterprises, in which he has been eminently successful, he has also taken
an active part in all movements tending to the betterment of the commu-
nity. He has served as township treasurer and has been mayor of Mil-
tonvale, but has never aspired to hold public office. He is a stanch
Republican, a member of the time-honored Masonic fraternity and be-
longs to the Christian church.
A. C. T. Geiger, a prominent attorney of Oberlin, Kan., and a well
known public speaker and orator, was born in Cedar county, Iowa, Jan-
uary 19, 1858, son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Lichtenwaltey) Geiger, the
former a native of Germany, who came to .Xmerica with his parents when
eight years old. Jacob Geiger was an educated man, having attended
college at ilarietta, Ohio, and at one time was a candidate for Congress
of the Second Iowa district, in which he lived. He was a farmer. His
wife, and mother of our subject, was a native of Maryland, of German
and English descent.
The subject of this sketch was raised on his father's farm,, where he
helped with the work and attended the country schools. After fin-
ishing the common school course he attended school at Carthage, 111.,
taking the Bachelor of .\rts degree in 1882, and received his Master of
.Arts degree in 1885 on his record as a student and by reason of having
taken up law. While in college he won the junior oratorical contest
and received a medal. Ilis father owned several farms and wanted the
boy to remain at home, but as he was determined to learn a profession
he went to college. His father soon had reason to be ^■ery proud of
him and wanted him to finish, .\fter leaving college he returned to
Cedar county, Iowa, and taught school, at the same time reading law
from books loaned him by his brother, who was practicing that profes-
sion at the time. Two of his three brothers are lawyers.
In 1885, Mr. Geiger was admitted to the bar of Iowa at Tipton, in
that State, Judge Hedges presiding on the bench. After working for a
few months in his brother's office at Tipton he started west, in January,
1886, and located at Oberlin, Kan., February 25 of that year, where he
began the practice of his profession. In the fall of 1886 he was elected
county attorney and served two years, after which he practiced law for
about eighteen months, when he was appointed county attorney by the
district judge, and in the fall was elected without opposition. He was
I02 BIOGRAPHICAL
reelected, but did not complete his term, resigning within one year after
his second election to become district judge, to which office he was
elected in 1893, and served eight 3'ears. The biennial election law was
then introduced and for one year he was not on the bench, but after
that time he was elected again and served one term of four years. He
was judge at the time of the most celebrated case ever tried in Kansas,
that of the State vs. Dewey, which lasted for seven weeks, and there
has never been any adverse criticism on his judicial management of that
case. The Ellen Lunney murder trial, which lasted one week, was also
tried before him. After leaving the bench he resumed the practice of
law in Oberlin and has continued ever since. Mr. Geiger is retained
as attorney by several large corporations. He is a member of the Knights
of Pythias and the Masons in all branches, and is a Pregressive Re-
publican.
Mr. Geiger was married November 2, 1887, to Frances P. Hopp, daugh-
ter of Adam and Louise C. Hopp, both of German descent, of Carthage,
111., where Mr. Hopp was engaged in the leather business. Here Mrs.
Geiger was raised and attended the public schools and the Carthage Col-
lege, where she and Mr. Geiger were classmates, graduating together.
They had five children: Marie L., now the wife of D. C. ^Vatkins, of
Ellis, Kan.; Elizabeth V., now located in Madison, Neb.; Carl E., a
senior in the high school at Oberlin ; Eunice F. and Willard T. attending
the Oberlin High School. Mr. Geiger's first wife died August 15, 1900.
Mr. Geiger was married the second time on November 9, 1901, to Miss
M. R. Borin, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Borin, of Stockton, Kan.,
where she was born and raised. Mr. Borin was for a number of years
instructor in the State Reform School at Pontiac, 111., and later was in
the implement business. He is now farming. Mrs. Geiger was educated
in the schools of Stockton and in the Stockton Academy. They have one'
child, Robert A. Geiger.
When Lwellyn was running for governor Mr. Geiger campaigned in
his behalf, making speeches, and for some time relieved him in his speak-
ing. Our subject is a well known speaker and orator of note.
Charles Edwin Hall is a man who has worked his way upward to
a position among the substantial men of the community in which he
lives. He has, by industry and perseverance, won the support' and con-
fidence of many men, who honor him for his high standard and pro-
gressive ideas. Mr. Hall was born in Rosendale township, Foun du Lac
county, Wisconsin, February 26, 1852, the son of Dr. Storrs and Eliza-
beth Scribner Hall. Dr. Hall was born in Washington county. New
York, and received his early education in New England. Subsequently he
graduated from the literary department of Rutland College. Vermont,
before taking up the study of medicine at Yale University. After com-
pleting his professional course the doctor located in Wisconsin, where
he became a popular and well known physician and prominent citizen.
BIOGRAPHICAL IO3
He died in 1905, at the a.s;e of ninety-one years. Four sons survive him:
Sidney S., a physician of Ripen, Wis., who graduated from the medical
department of Harvard I'niversity and served as assistant surgeon in
the United States Navy during the Civil war; William S., of Denver,
Col., who has large dair}- interests ; Ira S., of Minneapolis, Minn., and
Charles Edwin, who was reared in Wisconsin. He received the educa-
tional advantages afforded by the excellent public schools of Wisconsin
and completed a two-year course at Ripon College, Ripon, Wis., but was
compelled to leave college because of ill health and take up out-door life.
He devoted the years from 1869 to 1877 to regaining his health and the
latter year came to Kansas, locating at Russell for the purpose of engag-
ing in the banking business, but his health again failing, he returned
home. The lure of the West held with Mr. Hall, who had great faith
in Kansas, and in 1885 '^^ returned to establish a drug business, which
he conducted until 1889. He then became register of deeds of Russell
count}', having been elected to that office on the Republican ticket the
year previous. He was reelected in 1891 and again in 1893 and 1895.
During the four terms Mr. Hall was in office he made a fine record, gain-
ing the confidence of the voters by his honesty and ability, becoming
one of the most popular men in the county offices. During President
McKinley's administration, in 1898, he was apixiinted postmaster of
Russell, serving four years. In 1890 Mr. Hall purchased the abstract
books of the county and upon retiring as postmaster he added to this
business bj' handling real estate and insurance. At the same time he
handled a growing mortgage and loan and abstract office, becoming the
leading man in this line west of Ellsworth. Mr. Hall has always taken
a keen interest in public affairs and has been liberal in the expenditure
of his time and energy for the public. He is chairman of the Russell
County Republican Central Committee; has been a delegate a number
,of times to the Republican State conventions and to the National con-
vention in 1904. He is secretary of the Russell Commercial Club. For
some years he has been a director of the Russell State Rank and is a
large owner of both business and residence properly. Progress has been
Mr. Hall's watchword and he has consistently urged and stood for civic
improvements. He is popular as a friend and highly respected as a
business man by his man\ friends and acquaintances. Fraternally he
is a member of St. Aldemar Commandery, Knights Templar, of Ells-
worth, of Isis Temple Shrine, of Salina, and of the Modern Woodmen
of America. On December 23. 1874, Mr. Hail married Emma M., the
daughter of Henry I. Ackerman, a merchant of Fond du Lac, Wis., and a
sister of Theodore Ackerman. one of the founders of Russell. Two chil-
dren were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hall — Winifred R., who owns the
American College of Dressmaking at Russell, and Henry Storrs, who
died in 1892, aged twenty-two. He was educated at Washburn College
and was studying medicine at Ripon, Wis., at the time of his death.
104 BIOGRAPHICAL
Mrs. Hall is a prominent church worker at Russell, takes a leading part
socially and is helping build up the public library in connection with
other civic improvements.
Charles Clark Evans. — In the development of the agricultural re-
sources of Kansas, which has placed her in this respect in the front
rank among her sister States of the L'nion, opportunity has been offered
to many men not only to cause the wilderness to bloom, to realize
substantial returns in a financial way, but to become leaders and teach-
ers among their fellow men. Among those who have been of potential
value in the upbuilding of northwestern Kansas is numbered the subject
of this article. As a stockman and farmer he has been successful, as
receiver of the United States Land Office at Colby and as treasurer of
Sheridan county he served with credit, and to his pluck, energy and
enterprise Sherman county is indebted for her first irrigation project.
Charles Clark Evans was born at West Liberty, Iowa, on July 9,
1839, a son of William C. and Mary Ann (Winslow) Evans. His an-
cestors, paternal and maternal, were among the early settlers of Amer-
ica and numbered among them are men who achieved distinction in the
frontier life of those early days, in the commercial era which followed,
in the French and Indian wars and later in the w'ar of the Revolution.
The Evans family orinigated on the Isle of Man and was founded in
America during the early settlement of the Connecticut Colony. John
Evans, paternal great-grandfather of our subject, served in the war of
the Revolution with the Colonial forces. He was a farmer and lived at
Schodack, N. Y. His son, Simeon, grandfather of our subject, was a sol-
dier in the War of 1812. His earl}' life was spent in farming in Dela-
ware and Otsego counties. New York. In 1830 he sought opportunity
in the West and became a pioneer of Geauga county, Ohio, first opened
to settlement as the Western Reserve. He married Polly Kelly, a
daughter of Stephen Kelly, born in Rhode Island. He served with the
Continentals throughout the war for independence. William C. Evans,
father of our subject and the son of Stephen, was born in Otsego county.
New York, in 1822. His early years were spent in farming, first in
Ohio, where he came with his parents in 1830, then at Port B3'ron, 111..
where he removed in 1850. In 1855 ^^^ became a resident of West Lib-
erty, Iowa, where he filled the position of local agent for the Mississippi
& Missouri railroad, at that time recently completed and now a part
of the Rock Island lines. After a few years' service in this capacity
he resigned from the company's employ to resume agricultural pur-
suits. He developed one of the best farming enterprises and stock breed-
ing establishments in that section of the State. As a breeder he had the
distinction of introducing the Short Horn strain into the State. The
last years of his life were spent in Sheridan county, to which State he
had removed in 1884. On the formation of the Republican party he
became a consistent advocate of and supporter of its principles. Iowa
BIOGRAPHICAL I05
honored him with public office, in wliich he served with credit. He
was twice elected to its State legislature and was active and influential
in the passing of legislation of importance. He was a member of the
recruiting board of his district during the Civil war and was detailed on
special service in the South. He married Miss Mary Ann Winslow,
a descendant of Kenelen Winslow, a native of England, who came to
the Massachusetts Colony in 1629, of which a brother. Robert Winslow,
was one of the early governors. Her grandfather, Stephen Winslow,
was a soldier of the Continental line in the War of the Revolution, who
late in life located in Windsor, Lake county, Ohio, where he died, aged
eighty-five. Her inother was a daughter of Jonathan Nye, also a soldier
in the War of the Revolution. He was a sergeant in Captain John
Granger's company of ^Minute Men and his command was known as the
Lexington Alarm Roll. His residence was in New Braintree, Mass.
Mary .Ann (Winslow) Evans was born in 1830 and died in 1908. Eight
children were born to \\'illiani C. and Mary Ann Evans, all of whom sur-
vive. Lucy D., a graduate of Iowa University, is a teacher in the Moline
nilinois) public schools, a position she has occupied for the past thirty
years. Wilma A. is the wife of W. H. Shipman, an extensive manufac-
turer of harness and racing materials, of W'est Libert}-, Iowa. Ella is the
wife of Grant Nichols, a well known bandmaster of the same city. Sarah
R. is county superintendent of schools of Yellowstone county, Montana.
\\'arren A. is an expert accountant of Billings, Mont. Hugh S. is in the
lumber business at Tacoma, W'ash. Roy W. is an electrician of Deer
I-odge, Mont. The subject of this article completes the family.
Charles Clark Evans was reared on his father's farm at West Liberty,
Iowa, and received his education in the public schools of that city. In
1879 he came to Kansas and engaged in sheep ranching in Chase county.
From 1882 to 1884 he followed the cattle business and in the latter year
removed to Sheridan county, where he took a homestead fifteen miles
west of Lenora. Here he established a successful stock business and
added to his grazing lands, until he became the owner of 1,000 acres.
In 1933 he was persuaded by G. L. Calvert, of Goodland, to purchase a
tract of land in X'oltaire township, Sherman county. On this ])roperty
was placed the first irrigating plant in northwestern Kansas, which is
now in successful operation. He has added to his original holdings
until he now has 1,760 acres. About ten per cent, is in alfalfa and the
rest in wheat and corn. This venture required not only a large invest-
ment, but pluck and energy to nurse it along to profitable production.
.As a pioneer in this character of farming in his section of the State,
Mr. Evans has evidenced the possession of far-sightedness and enter-
prise which have not only produced satisfactory financial returns for
his investment, but have been of incalculable benefit to Sherman county.
In connection with public affairs of his section of the State he has
become well and favorably known. He has been a life-long Republican
Io6 BIOGRAPHICAL
and has taken an active part in the affairs of this organization. In
1887 he was elected commissioner of Sheridan county and served one
term, refusing to accept nomination for a second. He was elected treas-
urer in 1895 and reelected in 1897. In February, 1892, he was appointed
receiver of the United States Land Office at Colby and reappointed in
1902. He served in this capacity until the abolition of the office on
March 31, 1909. On conclusion of his government service he became a
resident of Goodland, his present home. He has served as chairman of
the senatorial committee of the thirty-ninth district for the past eight
years and has been a delegate to several State and congressional con-
ventions of his party. Mr. Evans has attained to the Knights Templar
degree in Masonry.
On December 28, 1882, Mr. Evans married Miss Isabella Kelly, daugh-
ter of John Kelly, a prominent stockman of Chase county, Kansas.
Mr. Kelly was born in Ireland, for a time was a resident of Illinois,
and his daughter was born in Pittsfield. that State. Mr. and Mrs. Evans
are the parents of four children : William Kelly Evans, born January
27, 1884, a graduate of Kansas Agricultural College, class of 1905. now
superintendent of his father's ranch in Sherman county. He married
in 1912 Miss Elsie Rosenbrough, of Cheyenne county, Kansas. Mary
A. Evans, a teacher in the Colby, Kan., schools, was born March 15,
1887, and is a graduate of Thomas County High School and for a time a
student in Washburn College ; Wilma D. Evans, born January 3, 1889,
a graduate of the Domestic Science Department of Kansas Agricultural
College, class of 1909, and now a teacher in the United States Govern-
ment School for Indian Girls, at Tuskahoma, Okla., and Jessie B. Evans,
horn February 2, 1898. Mrs. Evans is a woman of broad culture and
refinement and popular in the social circles of Sheridan and Sherman
counties, in which she is a leader. She is president of the Round Table
Club of Goodland and a member of the Presbyterian church. As a man
among men, bearing his due share in connection with the practical
activities and responsibilities of a work-a-day world, j\Ir. Evans has been
successful ; but over all and above all, he is rich in the possession of a
well earned popularity and in the esteem which comes from honorable
living. Progressiveness and energy have marked the management of
his commercial affairs and his methods have been clean, capable and
honest. As a public official, he served with honor and distinction. His
close associates have always been men who have had the welfare of
the community at heart and who have been ready to assist, with time
and money, any enterprise or measure which had for its object commer-
cial, civic or social betterment.
John Jones Knight. — A publication of this nature e.xercises its most
important function when it takes cognizance of the life and labors of
those citizens who have risen to prominence and prosperity through
their own well directed efforts, and who have been of material value in
BIOGRAPHICAL IO7
furthering the advancement and development of the commonwealth.
Mr. Knight has become well known to the citizens of northwestern
Kansas as a breeder of pedigreed cattle, and successful agriculturist,
and to the citizens of Sherman county through his ten years' service as
register of deeds.
John Jones Knight was born in the city of Hereford, England, on
December 5, i86r, and is a son of Thomas and Mary (Jones) Knight.
The family is of Welsh origin. The firm of Knight & Rogers, of Here-
ford, of which Thomas Knight was a member, were noted breeders of
Hereford cattle and among the first to export j)edigreed stock of this
strain to the Lnited States, their operations in this line beginning as early
as 1865. Thomas Knight brought his family to American in rSSi and
located in Racine, \\'is., where he resumed his stock breeding and en-
gaged in farming. In 1885 he again sought a new home and located in
Sherman county, Kansas. .Five homesteads adjoining each other were
taken up by the family — his mother, Mary Knight, two sons, John
Jones and Thomas, and a daughter, Mary, being the homesteaders.
These properties were situated in township 6, range 38, and comprised
some of the choicest bottom land in the county. As a potent factor
in the early development of Sherman county Mr. Knight became well
and favorably known and he was held in the highest esteem b}- its
citizens. He retired from active pursuits in 1899 and became a resi-
dent of Colorado Springs, Colo., where he died in 1901. He married,
in early life. Miss Mary Jones, who died at Hereford, England, in 1880.
They were the parents of si.x children, four of whom survive : John J.,
the eldest, is the subject of this article; Thomas Knight is vice-president
of the Lake County State Bank at Chase, Mich. : Susanah is the wife
of Irving Everett, sheriff of Pitkin county, Colorado, who was recently
elected for a fourth consecutive term and was the only Republican
receiving a majority in the 1912 election ; Sarah is the wife of H. M.
Sherrod, a prominent ranch owner and breeder of Hereford cattle, of
Sherman county ; Mary J. married E. M. Portner, a contractor and
builder, of Colorado Springs, Colo., and died in 1897 '< Hannah, the young-
est child, died at Colorado Springs in 1904, aged 31.
John Jones Knight attended the schools of his native city, those of
Racine, Wis., and took a course in Phillips Preparatory School at Mad-
ison. Wis. Subsequently he learned the carpenter trade. On the removal
of the Knight family to Kan.sas. in 1885, he became one of the five to
take up a homestead and engaged in work incident to changing the
prairie into a productive farming enterprise. The love of fine cattle,
inbred in him. accounts for his extensively engaging in the breeding of
registered Hereford stock, of which he is one of the most prominent
and successful in his section of the State. His land holdings total
1.320 acres and are devoted to alfalfa, wheat and corn raising. He
maintains a herd of Herefords averaging 150 head, and has sold breeding
I08 BIOGRAPHICAL
animals over a large section of the State. In the political affairs of his
county he has for many years taken an active part. He is a Democrat
and one of influence. He held various township offices previous to 1903,
when he entered the office of register of deeds, to which he had been
elected in 1902. He has served five successive terms, having been re-
elected in 1904, 1906, 1908 and 1910. In 1912 he was elected county com-
missioner, in which capacity he is serving at the present time. He has
the distinction of having served a longer time than any county official
of Sherman county and his incumbency of the office of register of deeds
was marked by fidelity and courtesy to his fellow citizens, while the
administration of the business of the office was of the highest standard
of excellence, which is evidenced by his numerous reelections at the hands
of a satisfied constituency. He has served as a member of the Board
of Education of the city of Goodland since 1903 and has been a dele-
gate to several State and congressional conventions of his party. He
has attained to the Knights Templars degree in Masonry and is a mem-
ber of Sparks Lodge, No. 170, Knights of Pythias, df Goodland.
Mr. Knight married, on August 16. 1886, Miss Rosa A. Collier, daugh-
ter of Joseph and Caroline (Brechner) Collier. Mr. Collier was a farmer
and surveyor and the first actual settler of Sherman county. A large
part of the original surveying was done by him and he also located
fully half of the settlers. He became one of the county's most influ-
ential men and was an active worker in the Democratic party. Five
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Knight, two of whom are
living: Myrtle C, born January 31, 1888, is assistant register of deeds;
she entered the office under her father in 1903 and remained with his suc-
cessor : Nellie S., born December 8, 1892, graduated from Goodland High
School with the class of 1911. Joseph F., born May 11. 1889, died De-
cember II, 1906; Mamie I., born March 9, 1895, and Maggie M., born
December 23, 1902, died within a day of each other in 1904. of scarlet
fever.
The family residence in Goodland is one of the city's social centers.
The family have long been known for their hospitality, and Mrs. Knight
and her daughters are active in the work of the Methodist church, of
which they are members. Mr. Knight is one of the progressive men of
his section of the State, loyal and public spirited as a citizen, and enjoys
to the full the confidence and esteem of his fellow men. He has been
successful in the things which he has undertaken and possesses initiative
and executive ability of high order.
John Robert Connelly, editor and publisher, member of Congress from
the Sixth Kansas district, was born at Mt. Sterling, 111., February 27,
1870, a son of Arthur and Sarah J. CManar) Connelly. His father was
born near Greencastle. Ind.. September 16, 1834, and his mother in Ken-
tuck^•, ]\Iarch 4, 1844. Arthur Connelly farmed in Illinois from 1861 to
1883. when he went to Nebraska, remaining until 1887, and then came to
BIOGKAPHICAL IO9
Kansas, taking a homestead in Thomas county, near Colby. He died
there January 2. 1912. and his wife died November 2. 1899. He was a
Democrat, a member of the Methodist churcli, and of the Butler. Mo.,
Lodge of Ancient Free and .\ccepted Masons. They had five children,
ail living at present: Dora A., wife of Thomas J. Upchurch, a farmer,
of Meriden, Kan. ; William E., a veterinary surgeon, of Medical Lake.
\\'ash.; Laura B., wife of John Garden, a farmer, of Meriden, Kan.;
John R., our subject, and James A., an employe of the Chicago, Rock
Island & Pacific railroad at Gem, Kan.
John R. Connelly was educated in the public schools of Nebraska and
graduated from the Salina Normal L^nivcrsity at Salina in 1894. In
the fall of that year he was elected superintendent of schools of Thomas
county, and was reelected in 1896. L'pon retiring from this office Jan-
uary I. 1899, he bought the Colby "Free Press," which paper he has
published and edited ever since. He has a good, modern brick building,
first class equipment, a paying business, a subscription list of r,20O.
The paper is Democratic. In 1908 he was a candidate for Congress
from the Sixth district, but was defeated by Mr. Reeder. the Republican
candidate, .\gain, in 1912, he was a candidate and defeated I. D. Young.
He has been a delegate to numerous State and congressional conventions
of his party, is a member of Colby Lodge, No. 306, Ancient Free and
Accepted Masons, and of Colby Lodge, No. 29, Knights of Pythias, hav-
ing gone through all the chairs of the latter, and is a member of the
Christian church. While he was superintendent of public instruction
Mr. Connelly secured the establishment of the Colby High School, which
was the first one in the Sixth district. For the past twelve years he
has I)een a member of the Colby board of education.
On June 17, 1896, Mr. Connelly married Miss Lilian Soudcrs. daughter
of Richard Souders, a farmer of Colby. She is a member of the Christian
church, active and prominent in tlie social life of Thomas county. Mr.
and Mrs. Connelly are the parents of six children: John Vernon, born
.^pril 18. 1897; Arthur Richard, born .September 17, 1898; James Lloyd,
born December 29, 1900; Inez Catherine, born January 25, 1904; Dorotha
May, born February 23, 1907, and .\nnie Laurie, born .'Vpril 15, 1912.
Herbert O. Caster, of Oberliii. Kan., a prominent attorney of north-
west Kansas, formerly a schoolman and superintendent of public instruc-
tion of Decatur county, was born in Meigs county, Ohio, .\ugust 28.
187;, son of Dan and Jane Turner Caster, natives of Ohio, where the
father was engaged in farming and stock raising. In 1878 they came
to Kansas and took a homestead in Decatur county. In 1881 Dan Caster
w?s elected chairman of the board of county commissioners and in 1891
and 1S93 represented his county in the State legislature.
There was not a frame house in the county at the time the Caster
family came here and their first home was part sod house and part
dug-out. Here the subject of our sketch was raised and attended com-
no BIOGRAPHICAL
men schools in a sod school house with dirt floor, working with his
parents on the farm during vacations. His parents were progressive
and soon had a fine ranch. After leaving common schools he went to
the Oberlin High School, graduating in 1891, after which he taught
school in Decatur county for one year and then attended the Ottawa
I'niversity, at Ottawa, Kan., where he took the degree of Bachelor of
Philosophy in 1898. While in college he was president of the State
Oratorical Association, business manager of the college paper, and repre-
sented his college in several debates, in all of which Ottawa was the
winner.
After leaving college Mr. Caster was appointed superintendent of the
Oberlin city schools, which position he held for three years, and organ-
ized the first accredited high school course. In the fall of 1900 he was
elected superintendent of public instruction in Decatur county, and
reelected in 1902, during which time he was reading law. In the fall
of 1903 he drafted a petition to the legislature for a county high school,
secured three-fourths of the signers to this petition and went down to
Topeka to assist in getting the measure through, in which he was suc-
cessful. He was on the high school board for eight years, six years
of which he was treasurer. All of his brothers and sisters have been
teachers in Decatur county, and Mr. Caster organized the first lecture
course in the county, and also in 1907 organized the first chautauqua
in Oberlin and managed it for five years. In 1904 he was Democratic
candidate for Congress for the Sixth district, but was defeated by Con-
gressman Reeder, the Republican nominee. The next year he was a
member of the legislative committee of the State Teachers' Association.
In June, 1906, he was admitted to the bar and began the practice of
law with Judge Langmade, now judge in this district. In 1908 Mr.
Caster was elected county attorney, serving one term, after which he
has been devoting his entire time to the practice of law and he now has
a large clientage over all the northwestern part of the State. Mr. Caster
is a Democrat, a member of the Baptist church, for eleven years has
been superintendent of the Sunday school, is a member of the board
of the Baptist State Convention, secretary of the board of trustees and
the teacher of a men's Bible class. Mr. Caster's father was in the county
at the time of the Indian raid and has the tassel from an Indian bridle
which he picked up the next morning while out bringing in the dead.
On August 23, 1900, Mr. Caster married Miss Maud Van Grundy,
daughter of Samuel and Sarah Van Grundy, natives of Ohio who settled
in Kansas in i8go. Mrs. Caster was born and raised in Missouri, where
she attended the common schools and later was a student at Tarkio
College, in Tarkio, Mo. After leaving college she taught common
schools in Decatur county six years and in the Oberlin schools four
years. Mr. and Mrs. Caster have three children, all attending school in
Oberlin: Ethel, born October 10, 1901 ; Mary, born April 19, 1905, and
Robert, born September 7, 1907.
BIOGRAPHICAL III
Joseph Hensley, who has been prominently identified witii the devel-
opment of southwestern Kansas, is a native of Germany, lie was Ijorn
at Baden-Baden, Fehriiar}- i8, 1845, and is a son of Andrew and Barbara
(Welte) Hensley, both natives of Germany, who spent their lives in
the fatherland. The mother died in i860, and the father passed away
in 1890. They were the parents of eight children, all of whom re-
mained in Germany except Joseph, whose name introduces this sketch.
In 1872 he, in company with Casper Hensley, a first cousin, immigrated
to America and located at Richmond, Iowa. Joseph Hensley was with-
out capital, but he had the determination to succeed, and he went
about it in a way that made but one result possible, and that was suc-
cess. He first went to work with a railroad construction gang, then
as a farm hand, and in 1883 he learned of the great possibilities in Kan-
sas for young, ambitions men with little capital, and he came directly
to this state, locating on government land in Clark county. His claim
was located near the present town of Ashland, and, in fact, a ])art of
the town now occupies a portion of his original homestead. lie settled
there before Ashland was thought of, and three years before Clark
county was organized. His early days in Clark county were real pioneer
days. He was prominent in the organization of the count}- and has
been an active and progressive business man all his life. \\'lien a
proposition looked good to him, he has always been willing to take a
chance. He has accumulated two fortunes and has met with heavy
losses through crop failures' and reverses of various characters, and is
now in comfortable circumstances and owns a fine ranch of 780 acres,
all under cultivation with substantial improvements, situated two miles
south of .Ashland. Mr. Hensley was united in marriage June 8, 1877,
at Riverside. Iowa, to Miss .Mary, daughter of James and Mary
(Hocsarch) Podrial. She was a native of Bohemia, born June 3, 1855,
and wlien nine year.s old immigrated to America with licv jiarents, who
located at Riverside, Iowa, where the father was engaged in farming
until his dealli in 18^7; the mother died in 11)07. They had seven
children: Stephen, deceased; .Anna. Josejih, deceased; liarbara, James,
Charles, deceased, and Mary. To Mr. and Mrs. Hensley have been
born ten children, the oldest of whom is Anna Barbara, born October
17, 1879. She was educated in the Ashland High School, and the
Kansas \\'esleyan Business College at Salina. She was then emjiloyed
as a stenographer and bookkeeper until 1904. Miss Hensley then en-
gaged in the millinery and ladies' furnishing goods business at .\shland,
in partnership with her sister, Mary Klizabcth. under the firm name
of the Hensley Millinery Compaii}-. The Hensley sisters are capable
business women and have met with well merited success in their com-
mercial enter])risc. The other children born to Mr. and Mrs. Hensley
are: Mary Elizabeth, born November 6, 1881. married .Mbert I,. IMun-
sey, December 11, 1912; Frank Joseph, born November 6, 1883, married
112 UK.T.RArillCAL
Annie Hiiey, Angust lo, 191 1, and tliey have one child. Joseph Hiiey,
born Septeml)er 26, 1912; Dora Ottihi, born February 2. nSSs. was the
first white child born in Clark count}', married Edward lohn .Myers,
December 17, 1906, and they ha\c two children, T'^rancis lulward, born
October 13, 1907, and Paul Joseph, born September 12, 1914; Katherine
Antoinette and Andrew Anthony, twins, born May" 17. 1887; Mar\'
Magdalene, born July 29. 1890: Ludwig Charles, born September (>.
1893; Paul Jdhn. born December 17. 1895. and Edward Albert, born
July 4. 1897. The family are members of the Catholic church and
prominent in Clark count}'. Politically Mr. Hensley is a Democrat,
but has never had time nor inclination to hold public office.
Ira Clemens, president of the Clemens Coal Company, Pittsburg,
Kans.. is one of the prominent factors in the development of the coal in-
dustry of the southwestern part of the State. He began life in the coal
business as a boy. Mr. Clemens is a native of Missouri, born in Clay
cotmty. r)ctober 2-j. 1873, and is a son of John II. and Julia (Pollard)
Clemens, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Missouri.
The Clemens family came to Kansas in 1882 and located in Cherokee
county, where the father worked in various capacities in c<innection with
coal mining, and later became a contractor, stripping coal and sinking
shafts, and also did some railroad construction work. He retired in
1910. and now resides at W'ier. Ira Clemens, whose name introduces
this sketch, attended the public schools and his first work was at the
mines near Scammon. When he was ten years old he secured employ-
ment wheeling ashes away from the engine room at 10 cents per day.
He later worked in the engine room and received 35 cents per day for
wheeling in coal and in a short time went to work down in the mines
at 30 cents per day. Shortly afterwards he went to work with his
father, who was then engaged in contracting and worked in \aricius capa-
cities with his father, until 1902. with the exception of two years when
he was employed as brakeman on the St. I.ouis & San Francisco rail-
road. His first work, of an independent nature, was in 1902 when he
took a contract of stripping coal with teams, and began this venture by
loading about 2,000 tons of coal per month. He then ojierated with a
small gin shaft, which consisted of a drum ])ower. operated by one horse,
and later he equipped a small steam shaft and was successful from
the start. About this time he began to bu}- and lease coal land and
operate on a large scale and his company now operates eight mines in
the coal fields of Cherokee and Crawford counties. They operate strip
jiit mines, as well as the undergrciund nicthud of mining with shafts, and
are operating mines on all the railroads in that mining district. Tn con-
nection with their strip ])it mining, the Clemens Coal Company o])erates
three large steam shovels that are in themselves mechanical wonders,
being among the largest steam shovels in use. Some idea of the scope
and extent can be gained of the Clemens Coal Company's operations
BIOGRAPHICAL II3
when one reflects w liat it means, in an indnstrial way, in tlic employment
of from 1,000 to 1,200 men, as ajipears on 'the pay roll of this company.
The Clemens Coal Com])any was organized in 1906 by Mr. Clemens and
he is also interested in the Mackie-Clemens Fuel Com|)any, Empire Coal
Company and the Canal Fuel Company. Ira Clemens was united in
marriai^e January 10, 1898, to Miss Julia Ryan, of Cherokee county,
and they have four children: Mamie, John, William and Lavan. Mr.
Clemens, while yet a younj:;^ man, has met with phenomenal success in his
unflertaking, and his career is a true exemplification oi the theory that
there are no accidents. Throughout his business history there have
been certain dominant rules of action governing his l)usiness and every-
day life. His policy is strictly square dealing and he has established a
reputation for honesty and integrity that is well and widely known.
Those in his emjiloy are treated with fairness and consideration and he
ha*; had ver\- little labor trouble of any account. Mr. Clemens is strictly
temperate in his habits and expects the same rule of temjierance to
apply to his employes that he observes himself, lie is a member of
the Catholic church.
Julius Augustus Wayland was, no doubt, the greatest ])ropagandist of
Socialism of his time. To the work of making others see what he, him-
self, l)elicved. he gave his unswerxing devotion, and many laborious
years of his life, lie was born at X'ersailles, hid., .\pril 26, 1854, of
\'irginia jiarentage. His parents moved to Indiana, from Kentucky,
when they were yoimg. There were seven children in the Wayland
family, four of whom, and the father, died diu'ing the scourge of cholera
that swept over Indiana in 1854. At the time of his death, the father
was a well-to-do grocer, but owing to the mother's lack of business exjie-
licnce, the administrator dissi])ated the estate, with the excejMion of
a four-room house, which was the only haven between absolute destitu-
tion and the hel])less family. The mother sewed, washed, and labored
hard to keep the little family together. J. A., the yoimgest, a sister
five \ears of age, and a brother ten years older, constituted the
family. Wayland's first im])ression in childhood was the struggle to
live, for the family suffered- extreme poverty, especially diu-ing the Civil
war, in which the older brother enlisted. The straits through which he
passefl as a boy, had much to do in forming that comprehension of life
and its jiroblems, which shaped his career in later life, lie attended the
village school, but when old enough to do chores, lost much time in
the effort to earn a few cents, to keep the wolf from the door. His
total school days were less than two years, and this time was chielly
de\()tcd to the three R's. He did odd jobs around the town of Ver-
sailles, and finally secured a position in a printing office. This was the
beginning of his remarkable joiunalistic career. This was in the office
of the \'ersailles "Ciazette," at a salary of two dollars jier week, .\fter
six months his salary had been gradually ad\anced to nine dollars i)er
114 BIOGRAPHICAL
week, but at this time he was discharged for trying to collect it. He
worked in various places as a printer, and, February 6. 1873. bought
the "Gazette." and changed its name to the "Ripley Index." After
conducting- this paper about four years, he disposed of it. and in Xovem-
ber. 1877, went to Harrison\ille. AIo.. and bought an interest in the Har-
risonville "Register," and shortly afterwards sold his interest in that
paper, and began the publication of the Cass "News." About that time
he was appointed postmaster by President Hayes, but resigned the office
after several months, sold the "Xews," and returned to Indiana, and
bought back the old newspaper which he had previously published. He
conducted this about a year when he disposed of it, and in the spring
of 1882 went to Pueblo, Colo., and started a weekly newspaper. He
added a job printing department, and was soon doing a thriving business,
and prospered. He also invested extensively in Pueblo real estate,
which was a profitable business during the boom time of Pueblo. He
forsaw the panic of 1893 ^'i"^' proceeded to dispose of his real estate
holdings, and quit Pueblo with approximately $80,000, in gold and gov-
ernment bonds. In 1893, he returned to Indiana locating at Greensburg,
where he founded the "Coming Nation." He successfully conducted
this paper for about a year and met with remarkable success, and in
1894 the Ruskin colony was organized, near Tennessee City, Tenn., and
the "Coming Nation" was moved to the colony quarters, where it was
published as a part of the business of the colony. This venture proved
a failure, and on July 22, 1895. ^^^- ^^'ayland withdrew from that organ-
ization, Avith considerable financial loss. Pie then went to Kansas City.
Mo., where on .\ugust 31. 1895. he published the first edition of the
"Appeal to Reason," and in 1897 moved his plant to Girard. Kans., and
on February 6th of that year, the first edition of the "Appeal" was
published at Girard which has since been its home. The story of the
progress and vast circulation, and far-reaching influence of this paper is
so well known that a detailed review of it here would be superfluous.
While Mr. \\'ayland was primarily a newspaper man, and his great suc-
cess in life is attributed to that field of endeavor, he was also the mov-
ing spirit in many other commercial enterprises, and showed unusual
business ability in various projects. He did many things to promote
the welfare and development of Girard, after locating there. He was
one of the organizers, and a strong financial backer of the Girard Coal
Belt Railway, and was a member of the board of directors of tiiat com-
pany. He organized the Girard Mutual Telephone Company, which af-
forded, perhaps, the cheapest telephone service in the state. He was
also a strong factor in giving Girard a municipal light plant. He was a
member of the Girard Commercial Club, and at all times favored local
public improvements, and often contributed his own funds for the
furtherance of public improvements. Besides owning considerable
property in Girard. Mr. ^^'ayland invested heavily in city property at
BIOGRAPHICAL II5
Amarillo. Texas, and was a very wealthy man at the time of his death,
which occurred November lo. 1912, and since tliat time his sons, Jon
G. and A\'alter ?I., have continued the management of the large interests
of the estate in a way that reflect great credit on them. Mr. \\'a\lan(l
was united in marriage in 1877 to Miss Etta licvan of Osgood, Ind.
She died October 5. 1898, leaving five children, as follows: Jon G.,
real estate and insurance, Girard, Kans. ; Olive ?>., married Amadee
Soudry and is now deceased; Walter II.. publisher of the ".Appeal to
Reason,"- Girard. Kans.; Julia R. and Edith M. both reside at Girard,
Kans. Walter H. W'ayland. publisher of the "Appeal to Reason," was
born at Pueblo, Colo., February 12, 1884. He received his education
in the public schools of Girard, the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
Mich., and the University of Indiana, Bloomington. Ind.^ He had been
associated with his father during the lifetime of the latter in connec-
tion with the "Appeal" and in July, 1914, became the publisher of that
paper. He was united in marriage October 9, 1908. to Miss Edna M.
Little of Girard, Kans. Mr. W'ayland is a cajiable young man and
possesses the natural executive qualifications which go to make a suc-
cessful career.
Daniel Snyder, a Kansas pioneer and Civil war veteran, w'ho has
been a cons])icuous figure in public life in Clark county for a number
of years, is a native of the lUickeye Slate. He was born at lUicyru-^,
Ohio, December 20, 1838, a son of John and Mary Ann Catherine ( Eeir-
ing) Schneider (the spelling of the name having been changed to Snyder
in recent years), both natives of Prussia, the former born in 1808. and
the latter in 1806. The parents of Daniel Snyder immigrated to .America
in 1834, and located at P>ucyrus, where the father was a contractor and
builder until 1864. when they removed to Olney. 111., and two years
later returned \(> liucyrus, Ohio, where the father spent the remainder
of his life in retirement. He died in 1874 and his wife de])artcd this life
at Houston, Texas, in 1898. They were the parents of six children, as
follows : Catherine, deceased ; Louisa, deceased ; a son, who died in
infancy; Daniel, the subject of this sketch; Mary and John Emanuel.
Daniel Snvder spent his boyhood days in I'ucyrus, Ohio, and attended
the public schools. In early life he learned the carpenter's trade with
his father, and followed that vocation until 1886. He then came to
Kansas, locating on government land in Liberty township, Clark
coimty, and was an early settler of that section. He experienced the many
hardships and discouragements common to the lot of the early settlers
on the plains, and for the first three years in Clark county, lived in a
dugout, but finally after years of persistence and hard work, things
began to come his way, and he has prospered and is one of the success-
ful farmers and stock raisers of the county. Mr. Snyder has taken an
active part in j)ublic affairs since coming to Clark coimty. In 1892
he was elected register of deeds of Clark count)' on the E.inncr-^ \IIi,iiu-e
Il6 BIOGRAPHICAL
ticket, and in 1894 was re-elected on the Democratic ticket. In 1898
he received the Democratic nomination for probate judge of Clark county,
and was elected by a satisfactory majority and re-elected to that office
in 1900. When the Civil war broke out, Mr. Snyder enlisted in Com-
pany C, Forty-ninth regiment, Ohio infantry, and ser\ed three vears.
He participated in manj- important engagements, including the battles of
Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge. He was never wounded, nor
in a hospital. Mr. Snyder was united in marriage Xovember 29. i860,
at I'lucyrus, Ohio, to iliss Lettie M. Kester, a native of Shavers Creek.
Pennsylvania, her parents being natives of that state. To Mr. and Mrs.
Snyder have been born four children, as follows : Raymond, born Jan-
uary 24, 1862, died in 1865; Edgar, born in 1866, died in 1870; ^\'illiam
Kester, born in 1868 and Alice, born in 1870, married to J. G. Skelton.
^Ir. Snyder is a member of the ^Masonic lodge, the Independent Order
of Odd Fellows, and he and family are members of the Methodist Epis-
copal church.
Emery Howard McKown, county treasurer of Clark county, is a
native of Missouri. He was born on a farm in Dallas county. October
30. 1870. and is a son of Alexander and Elizabeth (Barkhurst) McKown.
The father was a native of New York, born July 27, 1832, of Irish par-
ents, who immigrated to .America, in 1830. Alexander ilcKown worked
at blacksmithing in early life and later removed to Ohio and from there
to Iowa, following farming. From Iowa he removed to Ohio and later
to Dallas county. Missouri, in 1869 and came to Kansas in 1880, settling
in Cowley coimty and bought land, fifteen miles north of Winfield.
where he remained four years. When Clark county began to settle up
in 1884. he took up government land in that county, adjoining the pres-
ent town of Ashland. This was about a year before Clark county was
organized. He was a Republican but never cared to hold political
office. However, he took an active part in the organization of the county
and was active in every movement tending to the upbuilding of the new
country. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and
one of the substantial pioneers of Clark county. He died January 20.
1896. His wife. Elizabeth Barkhurst. was a native of Coshocton county,
Ohio, born July 20, 1838, and died Xovember 27, 1895. They were the
parents of ten children, as follows : The first born, a daughter, died in
infancy; Elizabeth Ann. James Francis. Robert Allen. John Hamilton.
Matilda Jane. Elmer Grant. Mary Melissa. William Sherman and Emery
Howard. Emery Howard McKown received his education in the pub-
lic schools of Cowley and Clark counties and graduated from the Ash-
land High School in the class of 1889. He then taught school in Clark
county for four years, and in 1895 was elected county clerk of Clark
county, and in 1897 re-elected to that office, serving two terms. He
then engaged in the mercantile business at Ashland until 1912, when he
was elected countv treasurer of Clark countv and re-elected to that
BIOGRAPHICAL
"7
office in 1914, and is now capably filling that responsible office, ilr.
McKown was married at Ashland, Kans., July 2, 1893, to Miss Martha
Isabelle, daughter of Isaac B. and Mary Ann (Cogginsj Lawhan. the
former a native of Tennessee and the latter of Mississijjpi. They settled
in Doniphan county. Kansas, at a very early day, where Mrs. McKown
was born. May 8, 1876. The Lawhan family removed from D(Miiphan
to Clark county in 1884. To Mr. and Mrs. McKown liave been born
seven children, the first born being a daughter who died in infancy, and
the others are as follows: Francis Hugh, Ixirn IJccember 13, 1898;
Olive I'ay, born October 5, 1900; Isaac iVlerritt, born February 2, 1903;
Mary Thelma, born May n, 1905; Emery Howard. Jr., Ixirn January
18. 1907, and Martha, born March 10, 1912. Mr. and Mrs, McKown are
members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and he is a member of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Modern Woodmen of
America. Politically he is a Democrat and takes a luoniiuLiit jiart in
the political affairs of Comanche count\ .
J. D. Turkington, sheriff of Crawford county, is pcrha])s the best
known puljlic ollicer in southeastern Kansas. Sheriff Turkington is a
native of Ohio, born in Greene county, March 21, 1862. He is a son
of John and l-'liza (McCreary) Turkington, both natives of Ireland and
Kansas pioneers. The Turkington family settled in Crawford county,
Kansas, near where the town of Monmouth now stands, in 1866, and
were among the first settlers in that section. Here the father bought
railroad land and engaged in farming, lie became an extensive land
owner and was very successful. He is now deceased and iiis wife,
the mother of Sheriff Turkington, resides at Cherokee. Kans. J. D.
Turkington was one of a family of ten children, seven of wiiom are now
living. He was only four years old when his parents settled in Kansas.
He received his education in the public schools and began life as a
farmer and stock raiser. He later drifted into the cattle business and
sot)n became one of the most extensive cattle dealers in that section of
the country, with headquarters at McCune. For a number of years
he Iiandlcd as liigh as a quarter million dollars' worth of cattle an-
nually, vvliich he sliipped to Kansas City and other markets. In tlie
fall of 1912 he was elected sheriff of Crawford county, assuming. the office
January 13, 1913. The large industrial development which has taken
place in Crawford county in recent years, and the many unusu;il con-
ditions which have develo])ed from that fact, all tend to make the office
of sJieriff one wliicii eml)races many duties of difficult detail. There
are many mining camjjs that sjjrang up, as it were, o\er night and these
usually have no regular peace officers, and the duty of law enforcement
of every form devolves ujion the sheriff of the county, so tlic position
of the sheriff of Crawford county in many ways is similar to that of
the sheriff of the early days in the West. Rut Sheriff Turkington did
his duty so thoroughly and well, without fear or favor, during bis first
Il8 BIOGRAPHICAL
term in office that in the fall of 1914 he was re-elected bv a very satis-
factory majority. He is a man who takes special pride in doing any-
thing well which he undertakes, and the electors of Crawford county
have made no mistake in their selection. Mr. Turkington was united in
marriage, May 18, 1891, to Miss Ida Brown, of Monmouth, Kans. She
was born near Springfield, 111. To Mr. and Mrs. Turkington have been
born two children: Eva, a teacher, and Frank, attending school.
Sheriff Turkington is a Socialist, and his fraternal affiliations are with
the Modern Woodmen of America, Sons and Daughters of Justice and
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He belongs to the Anti-
Horse Thief's Association.
Bertrand Delman Messing, a Kansas pioneer, who has spent nearly a
half century in the Sunflower state, is a native of Pennsylvania. He
was born in Bradford county, Pennsylvania, February 17, 1866, and is
a son of Delman and Viola Gertrude (Allen) ]\Iessing. The father was
born in Germany, January 15, 1841, and immigrated to America with his
parents, when he was thirteen years of age. They located in Bradford
county, Pennsylvania, where the parents spent the remainder of their
lives. They were the parents of six children : Delman. Andrew, Mar-
garet, William, John, and Frederick, all deceased except Margaret and
John. Viola Gertrude Allen, the wife of Delman Messing, was born in
Bradford county, Pennsylvania, April 13, 1845. She was a daughter
of Warren and Mary Allen, natives of Pennsylvania. To Delman and
Viola Gertrude (Allen) Messing were born four children, as follows :
'Warren, born October 10, 1863, married Ora Pedrick in 1895, and died
March 20, 1904; Bertrand Delman, the subject of this sketch; Maggie,
born October 19, 1871, died August 20, 1873, and Edith, liorn Jan-
uary 29, 1874, married Jesse A. Kinman, in 1894, and they have three
children, Gertrude, Roy and Katherine. Delman Messing left his
Pennsylvania home in 1868 and took up his journey for the West, lie
finally located on government land in Chase county, Kansas, and in that
early day proceeded to make a home for his family on the frontier plains
of the then far west. He engaged in the cattle business and also fol-
lowed farming in which he was very successfttl. He died in Chase
county, in 1876. Bertrand Delman Messing was only two years old
when the family located in Chase coimtj-, Kansas. Therefore, his
earliest childhood recollections are of the broad, unbroken plains of Kan-
sas. That was a time when it was said of Kansas that one could see
farther and see less than in any other place on earth, but Mr. Messing
has lived to see all this changed and is still a young man. Young
Messing grew to manhood and attended the public schools in Chase
county and in 1884 he went to Clark county and in partnership with his
brother, W'arren, bought 15,000 acres of land in Bluff creek valley in
the northeastern part of the county. He engaged in the cattle
business on an extensive scale and prospered, becoming one of the larg-
BIOGRAPHICAL Hg
est cattle men in the county. Warren died in 1904 and Bertrand Delman
continued to operate the Messing- cattle ranch until 1908 when he dis-
posed of it and retired, lie now resides at Ashland and is living re-
tired. Mr. Messing is a Republican and takes an active part in jiublic
affairs of his town and county. lie has been a member of the board
of county commissioners of Clark county since 1908, and is one of the
influential citizens of Clark county. Mr. Messing was married Jan-
uar\- 8, 1893, at Ashland, Kans., to Miss Minnie M., daughter of Charles
W. and Lydia (Wilson) Raymond. Mrs. Messing is a native of Craw-
ford county, Kansas, born September 26, 1871. ller father is a native
of Illinois, born July 21, 1840, and came to Kansas with his parents,
who located on government land in Crawford county at an early day
in the settlement of that section of the state. In 1885 he went to
Clark county and is now engaged in business at Bucklin, Kans. Charles
\V. and Lydia (A\'ilson) Raymond were the parents of two children:
Minnie, now Mrs. Messing, and Etta May, who died at the age of
eight. The mother died in 1875 and the father married Harriet Hoover
and to this union were born five children: William, Jose, Sallie, Frances
and Robbie. To Mr. and Mrs. Messing have been born three children:
Alma \'iola, born January 15, 1897, a graduate of the .Ashland High
School ; Raymond Bertrand. l)orn January 28, 1899, and Warren Charles,
born Xiiveml)er 8, 190^^
William Pearley Sanders, sheriff of (.'omanche count}-, who for years
has been a successful farmer and stockman of southern Kansas, is a
native of the Buckeye stale. He was born in Perry county, Ohio, March
15, 1869. and is a son of Camm Thomas and Mary Ellen (Immel)
Sanders, natives of Ohio. Camm Thomas Sanders was I)orn in Perry
county, a son of Benjan-iin and Ejjsey (Battinj Sanders, the former a
native of Georgia and the latter of Ohio. Camm T. Sanders remained
in liis native state until 1885, when he came west with his family, lo-
cating in Marion county, Kansas, where he now resides. He is a
veteran of the Civil war. iiaving served as a private in Comjiany B,
Tenth regiment, Ohio cavalry. He served three years, and was with
General Sherman on his march to the sea and i)articii)aied in most of
the engagements incident to that great military expedition. He has
been a lifelong Repul)lican and is a member of the Grand .\rmy of the
Republic. He was married to Miss Mary E. Immel, November 22, 1865.
She was Ijorn in CJliio, I""ebruary 10, 1846, and died at Poabody. Kans..
August 22. 1906. She was intensely religious and a liigli t>l>e of Amer-
ican womanhood. They were the i)arenls of eleven cliildren. all of
whom are living: Benjamin l-Vanklin, born March 9, 1867; William
Pearley, subject of this sketch; Emma Belle, born December 30, 1870,
married J. A. Sowers; Charles, born February 20, 1872; Bartlett. born
May 20, 1874; Harley D.. born May 20. 1876; .Sarah Effie. born May
20, 1878, married Clement .Smith ; Ollie .Susan, born .\ugust 7. 1880,
120 BIOGRAPHICAL
married Jesse J. Edmonston ; Josie Viola, born January 6, 1885, married
Arthur Shriver; Lawrence, born March 13. iHSj. and Leota, born Octo-
ber 20, 1889, married llarvey W'ehry. Sheriff Sanders was educated
in the ptiblic schools of Perry county, Ohio, and came to Marion county,
Kansas, with his parents in 1885, and in 1901 located in Comanche
ci^iunty, and bought a farm in Kiowa creek valley, which is now one of
the Ijest improved farms in the county. He is extensively engaged in
raising horses, cattle, swine and sheep and produces large quantities of
alfalfa, wheat and corn. Mr. Sanders is a Republican, and since coming
to Comanche county has taken an active part in local politics. In
1914, he was nominated for sheriff, and elected November 3d, and is
now capably filling that office. He was united in marriage Novemljer
26, 1892. to Miss Florence Weldy, daughter of Samuel P. and Jennie
G. (Dugan) Roberts of Perry coimty, Ohio, where Mrs. Sanders was
born December 16, 1874. Her father was a native of England, l^orn
October 31, 1832, died December 15, 1912. Her mother was born in
New York, December 13, 1837. They were the parents of seven
children, as follows: Mary Jane, born September 10, 1859; Elmer
Anderson, born May 25, 1861, died May 24, 1S63 ; Lucy Van Lora, born
October 13, 1863, died February 27, 1866; Mertie Leona, born August
23, 1868; Samuel Edw^ard, born March 3, 1871 ; Forest Wilbert, I)orn
December 16, 1874, and Florence Weldy, born December 16, 1874, twins.
To Mr. and Airs. Sanders have been born five children, as follows:
Georgiana Doris, born July 8, 1894, married Arthur 11. Schrock, Xovem-
ber 10, 191 1, and they have tw'o children, Dorothy Lavonne and Leona
E. ; Clemmie Clifford, Ijorn June 19, 1896; Forest Dewey, l)orn August
29, 1898; Audrey May, born May 15, 1903, and Zelma Leis, born June
23. 1905. Mr. Sanders is a Mason, and well and favorably knnwn
throughout southwestern Kansas.
Jacob Kurz, a prominent farmer and well known cattleman of
Comanche county, residing near Mayo, Kans., is a native of Wisconsin.
He was born on a farm in Brown county, November 2, 1S62, and is a
son of Peter P. and Katherine (Bibelhousen) Kurz, natives of Germany.
The father was born November 2, 1820, and at the age of thirty-two
vears immigrated to America from the fatherland and first located al
Milwaukee, Wis., where he was employed as a butcher for two years.
He then took up government land in Brown coimty, where he followed
farming successfully and prospered to the time of his death, which oc-
curred in Octoljer, 1898. His wife was born in (lermany in 1833. and
came to America with her parents wlien she was a child of eight years.
Peter P. and Katherine (Bibelhousen) Kurz were the parents of ten
children, as follows: Philip, Joseph, John, Katherine (deceased), Jacob,
the subject of this sketch, Frona, Antone, Peter, Josephine, Henry and
\'incencc. Jacob Kurz s])ent his boyhood da\s on his father's farm in
Wisconsin and attended the public schools. In 1885 he came to Kansas,
BIOGRAPHICAL 121
locating on government land in Rumsey township, Comanche county.
His was the lot CDnimon tn tlie pioneer uf western Kansas in Ihose eaiiv
days ; he endured the hardships of primitive life on the plains, and for
the first five years in Comanche county lived in a dugout. Crop failures
and droughts overthrew his efforts, one after another, but he persisted,
and by industry and sticktoitiveness finally began to win. and
as prosperity came he added to his original holdings and now owns
5.400 acres of land, and is one of the I)ig cattle men of the -Southwest an<l
one of the wealthy men of his community. He makes a specialty of rais-
ing Hereford cattle and raises lots of them. He has one of the finest
herds in' the county. Mr. Kurz is a Democrat and lias held various local
offices of trust and responsibility, but has never aspired to political fame.
He was united in marriage November 2, 1892, in Comanche coimty. to
Miss Rosa Deubler, a native of Warsaw, 111., born March 20, 1874. To
Mr. and Mrs. Kurz have been Ijorn six children, as follows: Clara, born
August b, 1894, died July 21, 1907; Maljcl, born June 5, 1896; Charles
Jacob, born January 18, 1900, died July 21, 1907; Rosa, born July 16,
1904; the fifth child, a daughter, died in infancy, and Ethel, the youngest,
was born May 10, 1913. One of the great bereavements of this life en-
tered the Kurz family in the tragic death of their two children, Clara
and Charles. They were lost in the wreck of the Steamship "Columbia,"
which went down off the Pacific coast, July 21, 1907, while on a voyage
from San Francisco, Calif, to Portland, Ore., in which one hundred pas-
sengers perisjied. Mr. Kurz was a ])assengcr on tlie ill-fated \essel. but
fortunately, numbered among the survivors. The bodies of the children
were never recovered.
Sidney A. DeLair, Coldwater. Kans, — To Sidney A. Dclair belongs
the credit of being ])ro])rietor of one of the largest and best equipped
stock ranches in the state of Kansas. The "Ideal Stock Ranch," con-
sisting of 5,900 acres, is located fourteen miles southeast of Coldwatei
It is a model in every detail and every convenience for handling cattle
on a large scale is provided; tlie l)uildings are modern and inchulc a
large modern ranch residence. The place is supplied with water works
and electric liglit i)lant, and every convenience usually found in a modern
city is here duplicated. Mr. DeLair is a native of Canada, born May
10, 1864, and is a son of Silas S. and .\lmira (Thayer) DeLair, both also
natives of Canada. The father was born in 1839 and the mother in
1846. They were married April 29, 1863, and in 1870 the family came
to Kansas, locating in Harvey county. Here the father took up govern-
ment land and remained about two years when he removed to Platte
coimty, Missouri. However, lie remained there but a short time, when
he returned to Kansas, locating this time in Sedgwick county, where
he followed farming six years and in 1886 located in Comanche county,
wiiere he also followed farming until 1893, when he went to Sumac,
Wash., making his home there until his death, which occurred Feb-
122 BIOGRAPHICAL
ruary 22. 191 3. His wife died March 20, 1902. They were the par-
ents of eight children. Sidney A., whose name introduces this sketch,
being the oldest. The others, in order of birth, are as follows : IMaud
M.. born June 20, 1866; Elsie G., born June 18, 1869; Musa M., born
November 12, i8'76, died November 24, 1880; Edith V.. born October
24, 1882 ; Thomas J., born May 26, 1885 ; Ida E., born February 25,
1888. and Leslie Paul, born April 16, 1890. Sidney A. DeLair was
united in marriage April 14. 1892. in Comanche county, Kansas, to Miss
Grace Fretz, a native of Denton County, Iowa, born December 2;^. 1872.
She is a daughter of Henrj- and Julia F. (Agnew) Fretz, the former a
native of Pennsylvania, born December 13, 1829, and died in Comanche
county, Kansas, November 11, 1900. and the mother was a native of
Peoria, 111., born July 7, 1844. They were married April 26. 1868, in
Illinois, and to this union two children were born : Alta, now the wife
of Cyrus Shimer. Watervliet. Mich., and Grace, the wife of Sidney
A. DeLair. To Mr. and ]Mrs. DeLair have been born four children :
Wayne Ambrose, born December 14, 1893 ; Henry Roy, born September
7, 1895; Ralph Emerson, born November 4. 1897, and Myrtle Jewel, born
November 2, 1899. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal
church and Mr. DeLair is a member of the Masonic Lodge. Mr. DeLair
is one of the leading citizens of Comanche county, and takes a deep in-
terest in all matters touching the welfare of his community and state.
He served four years on the board of county commissioners of Comanche
county, but his vast private interests have so engrossed his time that
he has thus far been imable to devote any great amount of his time to
politics.
Perry A. Johnston. Coldwater. Kans.. is a pioneer settler of Comanche
county, and one of the extensive men of affairs of that section. Mr.
Johnston is a native of Ohio, born in Trumbull county, October 25, 1862,
a son of Thomas and Mary ( Whaley) Johnston. The parents were also
natives of Ohio, the father being born in 1832 and followed farming
in Ohio, where he died in 1902. His wife was born in 1843 ^"d now re-
sides at Seattle, Wash. They were the parents of nine children, as
follows: George, (deceased); Perry A., the subject of this sketch;
Lizzie M., unmarried, resides in Cleveland. Ohio ; Mary, widow of George
Stewart, resides in Seattle, Wash.; Frank W'., a farmer and stockman
in Trumbull county. Ohio; Thomas A\.. farmer in Trumbull county,
Ohio; llattie, married Louis Selover, Seattle, Wash.; William. Redlands,
Calif., and Ella, unmarried, resides with her mother in Seattle, W'ash.
Perry A. Johnston received his education in the public schools of Trum-
bull county, Ohio, and after teaching a few years in his native state
came to Comanche county. Kansas, in 1884. He settled on government
land and engaged in the feed business at Coldwater. opening the first
feed store in that town. Since coming to Coldwater, he has been
actively identified with the business development of that town and
BIOGRAPHICAL 1 23
Comanche county. He conducted a hardware store for a time in Cold-
water and also a lumber yard and bought and sold grain extensively for
a number of years, and still owns a grain elevator at Coldwater. He
owns a well improved ranch of 6,000 acres, located three miles west of
Coldwater, where he is an extensive breeder of blooded horses, registered
short horned cattle and blooded swine. He raises wheat and alfalfa on a
large scale, and since coming to Kansas success has crowned his well
directed efforts. He owns property in Coldwater and in Wichita and is
one of the largest individual tax payers in Comanche county. He is a
staunch advocate of the policies and ])rinciples of the Democratic partv
but has never sought political preferment, preferring to devote his entire
time and energy to his private business. Mr. Johnston was united in
marriage in 1890 at Protection, Kans., to Aliss Mary M. Vance, daughter
of Hugh and Margaret Vance, residents of Protection. Mrs. Johnston
is a native of Iowa and came to Kansas with her parents when a child.
To Mr. and Mrs. Johnston have been born seven children : Walter R.,
Etna Hazel, George P., Earl, Hugh, Edgar and Edith. The Johnston
family is well known and highly respected in the community.
George H. Helton is a successful farmer of Comanche county, and in
addition to farming is interested in a number of im]K)rtant commercial
enterprises at Coldwater. He is a native of Iowa, born in Des Moines,
December 12, 1876. He is a son of Joseph A. and Eliza Isabelle (Barn-
grover) Helton. Joseph A. Helton, the father, was born in Indiana in
1854 of Virginia parents. The family removed to Iowa some time in
the fifties and located at Des Moines, where J(iseph A. Helton's father
took a prominent part in the early development and organization of that
section of Iowa. He is a veteran of the Civil war. and served as
sheriff of Polk county; he died in 1864, and his wife departed this life
one year later. Joseph A. Helton came to Kansas with his family in
1884, and was successfully engaged in farming for a number of years,
and is now living retired at Chase, Kans. (ieorge H. Helton is one of
a family of seven children, four of whom are living, as follows: George
H., Nellie B., born in 1878, married Erank Helmcr, farmer, Geneseo,
Kans.; Mabel M., born in 1880, married George W. .Smith, Chase. Kans.,
and Xancy E., born in 1885. married Walter Layton. farmer. Pollard,
Kans. George H. Helton received his educational training in the public
schools of Chase, Kans., and was graduated from the Chase High. School
in the class of 1897. and engaged in the stock business, handling horses
and cattle extensi\ely at Ciiase. Kans., until 1904, when he removed to
Comanche county, and bought a ranch, seven miles northeast of Cold-
water, where he has since resided. His place consists of 640 acres of
well improved land, all under a high state of cultivation and very pro-
ductive. In additi(m to his farming operations, Mr. Helton carries on
an extensive business in buying and selling horses and mules. He is
a director of the Peoples State Bank of Coldwater, the Platte-Gilchrist
124 BIOGRAPHICAL
Lumber Companj- of Coldwater and the Coldwater Hardware & Imple-
ment Company, and is also interested in a number of grain elevators.
He is a Republican and has taken a prominent part in political affairs
since coming to Comanche county. He was a member of the board of
county commissioners from 1908 to 191 1, and in 1912 was elected to
represent Comanche county in the legislature and re-elected to that
office in 1914. During the session of 1913 he was an active member of
a number of legislative committees and took a prominent part in that
session, and the best evidence that he satisfactorily represented his con-
stituents is that he was re-elected to succeed himself. Mr. Helton was
married ^larch 23. 1901, at McPherson, Kans., to Miss ^Myrtle B., dnugh-
ter of Theodore and Martha E. (Calfee) Mullenix of Chase county. Kan-
sas. Mrs. Helton was born January- 11. 1883. at Greencastle, Ind. To Mr.
and Mrs. Helton have been born three children: Xira Mae, born De-
cember 5. 1901 ; \"elda Grace, born June 9. 1903, died August 23, 1904,
and Alma Pearl, born March 12, 1905. Mr. Helton is a Thirty-second
degree Scottish Rite Mason.
Joseph P. Taylor, the popular and capable clerk of the District Court
of Comanche county, is a native of Illinois. He was born on a farm in
■McLean county, March 23, 1873, and is a son of \\'illiam ]M. and
Elizabeth (Policy) Taylor, the former also a native of McLean
county, Illinois, born October 30, 1850, and the latter a native of In-
diana, born June 6. 1854. The Taylor family came to Kansas in 1875
and followed farming for two years in Cowley county and five years
in Sumner county, the father proving up on government land in the lat-
ter county, where he remained until 1884, when he removed to Comanche
county and bought a ranch of 600 acres, two miles south of Protection,
where he was extensively engaged in the cattle business. He took a
prominent part in the early development of the county, and is a Demo-
crat and prominent in the local councils of the party. In 1890 he was
elected to the office of sheriff of Comanche county, serving four
years and made a good record. In 1903 he sold his ranch and has since
resided in Coldwater. He is widely and favorably known throughout
southern Kansas, and a pul)lic spirited man who is ever ready to sup-
port a worthy cause. Joseph P. Taylor is one of a family of five
children, as follows: Joseph P., whose name introduces this review;
David "Elmer, born in McLean county, Illinois, June 5, 1875. married
Rose Holderby, a daughter of H. O. Holderby, a Comanche county
pioneer, and to them have been born two children. Clyde and Richard;
Cora, born in 1879. married Frank M. Mclntyre and they have five
children, Glesson, Millard, Xorma, Herman and Morris, the last two
twins : Gladys, born in 1893. ^ .graduate of the Coldwater High School, re-
sides with her parents, and William Jennings Bryan, born June 20, 1896.
Joseph P. Taylor spent his boyhood days on his father's ranch in
Comanche county and attended the public schools. In early life he
BIOGRAPIIICAI, 125
engaged in stock raising for liinisclf and was \-ery successful in that
line of endeavor, and in 1908 engaged in the cement contracting lousiness,
which he followed for two years. About the time he engaged in con-
tracting he was elected district clerk of Comanche county on the Demo-
cratic ticket and re-elected to that office in 1910 and in 1912 and again
in 1914 and is now ser\ing in that capacity. Mis repeated re-election
to that office is the best evidence of the satisfactory wa\ in which he
has discharged the duties which have de\olved upon him. lie is well
known throughout tJie county and his conscientious methods and
courteous manner have won many friends. 'Mr. Taylor was united in
marriage December 28. 1900. to Miss Marie, daughter of William P..
Cummins, a prominent Woods county, Oklahoma, farmer. Mrs.
Taylor was born on a farm in Miami county, Kansas. To Mr. and
Mrs. Taylor have been born five children, as follows: Spencer Curtis,
born October 12. 1901 ; Bernice Elizabeth, born September 11, 1903;
MtuMand Cummins, born October 5, 1908; I'liili]) Irving, born June 24.
1912, and Gordon L. W'illson, born June 4, 1914. Mr. Taylor is a mem-
ber of the Knights of P\thias and the lndc])endent ( )r(ler of (Hid
Fellows.
Charles Edgar Baker, a well known successful attorney of Coldwater.
Kans.. and count\ attorney of Comanche county, was born on a farm
in Lawrence county, Missouri, December 29, 1873. Ills ])arents.
Andrew II. and Martha E. (Eads) I'aker, are both natives of Wayne
county, Kentucky, where the former was born June 12, 1841, and the
latter March 21, 1851. Andrew 11. liaker, the father, is a ])ioneer of
southern Kansas and for a number of years was a prt)minent factor in
the banking world of that section. He first came to Kansas in 1868,
settling in Montgomery county, being one of the very first settlers of
that part of the state. He remained there, however, only one year,
when he removed to Lawrence county, Missouri, and was engaged in
farming aliout six years, and in 1876 returned to the Sunflower State,
this time taking u]) his residence in Cowler county, and followed farm-
ing and stock raising there until 1884. .Abonl this time Comanche
county began to settle u\) rapidly, and op]iortnnities seemed favorable
there, and Mr. Uaker disjjosed of his interests in Cowley county and
joined the western bound homeseekers, and took up goxernment land in
Comanche county, near where the present town of Protection is located.
Here he engaged in farming and stock raising and met with tuiusual
success. In 1904, he, with a few other local capitalists, organized the
Protection State IJank and he was president of that institution for two
years when he disposed of his interest in that bank and invested in the
Peoples' State I'ank of Coldwater, and became its i)resident. He has
many financial interests in the county and during his long career of
business enterjirise. he may well be classed as one of the builders of
Comanche county. He retired from strenuous business life in kii^. and
126 BIOGRAPHICAL
is now livinLT. practically, in retirement at Coldwater. He has been a
lifelong Republican, but has never aspired to political honors, although
he has always taken a keen interest in public affairs and is an ardent
supporter of any policy or principle for the upbuilding and betterment
of his county and state. Charles Edgar Baker, whose name introduces
this sketch, is one of a family of eleven children, as follows: Fannie,
Ella, Charles Edgar, Alice. Emma, Estella. Frank, Frederick, Grace and
Jessie (twins), and Hallie. all of whom are living and enjoying good
health. Charles Edgar was educated in the public schools of Cowley
and Comanche counties and the state normal school, at Emporia, and
afterwards tpok a course in the A\'ichita Business College. In 1901 he
received the appointment as journal stenographer in the state legisla-
ture, serving in that capacity through that session, and in 1903 was
stenographer for the senate judicial committee, and at the close of that
session, in 1903, was appointed official court stenographer for the
thirty-first judicial district, serving in that capacity eight years. In
the meantime, he read law and passed the bar examination and was
admitted to the bar of Kansas in igio. He engaged in the practice of
his profession at Coldwater and has built up a large paying practice.
In 1912 he was elected county attorney of Comanche county, and re-
elected in 1914, and now holds that office. Mr. Baker was united in
marriage, January 31, 1901, to ]\Iiss Lulu Boyd, of Burden. Kans. She
was born at Eugene City. Ore., July 30, 1876. and is a daughter of
Samuel and Delila Boyd. To Mr. and Mrs. Baker have been born three
children. Elsie, born September 16. 1904; Irene, born October 7, 1906,
and Charles Edgar, Jr., born December 24, 1914. Mr. Baker is a member
of the Masonic lodge, and he and his wife are members of the Aletho-
dist Episcopal church and active in the work of the church in their
home town.
Calvin Clermont Towner, Protection. Kans., came to this state in
1873, when he was a lad of twelve years of age. Mr. Towner is a
native of the Buckej-e State, born in Pike county, Ohio. May 27, 1861,
and is a son of William H. and Xancy (McCray) Towner. The father
was also born in Pike county, Ohio, in 1840, and followed farming in
that state until 1884. when he came to Kansas, locating on government
land in Clark county. He was a Republican and active in the early
life of the county, having been a member of the board of county commis-
sioners six rears. He was one of the founders of the town of Lexing-
ton, which was one of the hustling frontier towns in the 8o's, but is
now extinct. In 1893 when the "Cherokee Strip" was opened up to
settlement, he took up government land in Garfield county, Oklahoma,
where he died in 1899. He was a veteran of the Civil war, having
served three years as a non-commissioned officer, and was clerk on the
staff of Gen. George H. Thomas. \\'illiam H. Towner was twice mar-
ried, his first wife, Nancy McCray, was a daughter of Archibald A. and
BIOGRAPHICAL I 27
Leatha (Ward) McCray, natives of \'ir!4-inia. Xancv McCray was one
of a family of ten children. Her seven brothers, llarvey, W'illiam, Sam-
uel, Washington, Charles J., Calvin A\'., and Archibald, served in the
Union army during the Civil war, \\'ashington being a lieutenant. The
two daughters died in infancy. To William II. and Xancy (McCrav)
Towner was born one child. Calvin Clermont, the subject of this sketch.
The mother died when Calvin was two years old, in 1863. and about
seven years later the father married Miss Margaret Smith, and to this
imion were born six children: John R., lienjamin U.. a sketch of whom
appears in this volume, William H., Harry, Lyda and Sallie. Calvin C.
Towner came to Kansas in 1873 with two uncles, who located in
Mcl^herson county, where the boy attended school. He went to liar-
ber coimty and settled on government land and after proving up went
to Clark county, and bought school land, where he ninv owns over 1,000
acres of land and has since been extensively engaged in the cattle
business and is one of the successful stock men in that section. Mr.
Towner resides in the town of Protection and directs his stock and farm-
ing operations from there. He has been active in other fields of enter-
prise as well as in farming. In 1910 he built a plant and installed an
electric system in the town of Protection, which he later sold to the
town. Mr. Towner was first married, .April 16, 1890, to IMiss Ella M.
Gilchrist, a native of PennsyKania, born .\pril 10, 1868, and came to
Kansas with her parents in 1886. She died April 10, 1906. She was a
member of the Christian church and a woman of noble Christian char-
acter. Mr. Towner's second marriage occurred January 16, 1908, to
Miss Leola 15., daughter of 1!. P.. and Mary (Davenjiort) Denney. Mrs.
Towner was born in .Sumner county, Kansas. October i. 1884. They
have two children. Uutli l*".\-cl_\n, born August 5, 1910, and David Cler- '
nioiii, born ( )ctobcr jS, 191 1. Mr. Towner is a member of the Masonic
lodge and the Independent Order of Odd I-'ellows, and is one of the sub-
stantial citizens of Comanche county.
Floyd Robert Campbell, registrar of deeds of Comanche county, is a
native son of Kansas. ;ind belongs to the younger class of men who are
doing things and taking a i)r(>minent i)art in the affairs of the state. Mr.
Campbell was born in Rei)ublic county, January 21. 1884. and is a son
of John M. and Sarah (Glascow) Campbell. The f.ither w.ms a iiatixe of
Springfield. Mo., born in 1838. and. when a child his parents removed
to Illinois, where he was reared on a farm, and was engaged in farming
when the Civil war broke out. In answer to the President's call for
volunteers, he enlisted in the Xinety-ninth Illinois infantry, and wa ;
in the service for three years and three months. He i)articii)ated in
many important battles and was at the siege at \'icksburg and wriS
wotuided once. .At the close of the war he returned to his Illinois home,
where he remained a few years, and in 1869 c.imc to Kansas, locating
in Republic county. That was an early day in the settlement of that
128 BIOGRAPHICAL
section of the state, which was considerably west of what might be
termed the border line of civilization and there was considerable Indian
trouble in that section after that time. Here John Campbell, the pioneer,
took up government land and was one of the first to file a claim in
Republic county. He took an active part in the organizing of the
county. He was a lifelong Republican, and active in the
affairs of his party, and at one time was a member of the board of county
commissioners of Republic county. He was successfuU}- engaged in
farming and stock raising there until 1900. when he bought 2,500 acres
of land in Comanche county, where he removed, and established a cattle
ranch, and was engaged in the cattle business on an extensive scale and
prospered until he was overtaken by death. He passed away June 19,
1907. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and a well known and highly
respected citizen. His wife was a native of Pike county, Illinois, born
in 1842 ; she died at Clay Center, Kans.. March 10. 1910. She was a
member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Floyd Robert Campbell is
one of a family of ten children, as follows : Belle, now the wife of
William M. Morley, Coldwater, Kans.; John H., farmer, Republn-
county, Kansas ; Mary, the wife of Daniel Bowersook, farmer. South
Dakota ; Sadie, the wife of Leroy Donaldson, farmer and merchant, St.
Francis. Kans.: Fannie." the wife of Samuel Bush, farmer. South Dakota;
Millie, wife of Joseph Jantzen, farmer, Colorado; Delia, the wife of
Benton Craig, farmer. Oklahoma ; Ethel, wife of Albert Mc\"ey. farmer.
Clay county, Kansas; Floyd Robert, the subject of this sketch, and
Chester A., born November 11. 1887, ranchman, Comanche county,
Kansas, married Maggie McLaughlin. Floyd Robert Campbell received
his education in the public scliools of Republic county, Kansas, and
the W'esleyan Business College, graduating in the class of 1903, and
was associated with liis father on their cattle ranch in Comanche county
until 1912, when he was elected registrar of deeds of Comanche county,
and in 1914 was re-elected to that office. Mr. Campbell is a Republican
and has taken an active part in politics, and his genial manner and ef-
ficient public service have made him one of the popular coimt}- officials
of Comanche county. He is a Thirty-second Degree Scottish Rite
Mason. He was united in marriage June 4, 1913. at Hubbell, Xeb., to
Miss Marie, daughter of L, P. Luce, a retired farmer of that place. Mrs.
Campbell was born at Hubbell. Xeb., March 20, i88g, and .she is a grad-
uate of the Hubbell High School.
Capt. William J. Watson, postmaster of Pittsburg, Kans., is a native
son of Kansas, and the second generation of a family of soldiers and
prominent citizens whose endeavors have contributed much to the up-
building and progress of the Sunflower State. Although born after
the storm and stress period of Kansas history, he found outlet for the
traditional family patriotism in the Spanish-.\merican war, in which
Uyoio
UiUM
VtA4
TIKIGRAI'IIICAL 129
lie was an officer in the famims Twenlicth Kansas re.e^'iment. and tlic
wiHtnds which he received while in the service of the flaj:;- in distant
lands will he lifelong' marks of his valorous conduct. Captain Watson
was born on a farm in Crawford count}', near Cato, Deceml)er 31. 1871.
and is a son of Capt. Alexander M. and Sarah Jane (Hadley) Watson.
Alexander M. Watson was born in F.dinburgh. Scotland, in 1836. a son
of Matthew and F.lixia (Macartney) Watson. Matthew Watson, with
his family, immigrated from Scotland to Canada in 1S42. and a year
later removed to Rochester, X. Y., where they remained until 1852, when
the family removed to Michigan, and shortly afterward to Livingston
county. Illinois. In 1859 the family, with the exception of .\lexander M.,
came to the territory of Kansas, locating on the tlien "neutral" lands, near
where Cato now stands. Here the family bought land, which later be-
came a productive and valuable farm, consisting of one section of land.
When they settled here the country was in a i)rimiti\e condition. Indians
still roamed oxer the plains, range was free and unfenced. Matthew
Watson resided on that ])lace until 1872, when he removed to Cherokee
county, where he developed another fine farm and resided there until
his death in 1895. "'^ wife died in 1882. Alexander M. Watson re-
mained in Illinois after the other members of the family came to Kansas,
and on December 10, 1861, enlisted at Geneva. 111., as a private in Com-
panv 1). I'ifty-second regiment. Illinois infantry, and was attached to
the Army of the Tennessee, under Grant. He fought at Fort Donelson,
Shiloh. tlie siege at C'orinth, Missionary Ridge and numerous skirmishes.
On December 25. 1863. his term of enlistment having expired, he re-
enlisted at I'ulaski. 'Penn.. in the same regiment. On May 5, 1864, his
regiment joined Sherman's army at Chattanoo.ga and participated in all
the battles of Sherman's march to the sea. November 19, 1804, he was
promoted to captain, and after lire march to the sea, went north through
the Carolinas to Goldsboro, and after Johnson's surrender accom])anied
Sherman's victorious army to Washington, and was with his company in
the grand re\iew. lie was mustered out at Louisville, Ky., July 12.
i8('i5. At the close of the w;ir he came to Kansas to join his wife, who
had ])receded him to this State, and had remained with the Watson
family during the \\;ir. .\fter remaining for a short time in liourbon
county, he came to Crawfcjrd coimty, and on I'"ebruary 1, i8f)(), took nj) a
claim in Osage township, and has the distinction of being one of the
oldest settlers in the county, in .idditinn to his farming operations lie
was also engaged as a railroad contractor for a time. In i8Sn he took
up his residence in Pittsburg and has lived there ever since. He was
foreman for the Kansas & Texas Coal Company for a number of years.
His wife died at Fmporia, Kans.. in 1876. Capt. William J. Watson,
whose name introduces this sketch, was educated in the public schools
of Pittsburg and graduated from the high school. He then took up
the study of law in the office of John Randoli>h. of Pittsburg, and later
130 BIOGRAPHICAL
entered the law department of Kansas University, at Lawrence, where
he was graduated in the class of 1896, and w-as admitted to the supreme
court and immediately engaged in the practice of law at Pittsburg, and
in April, 1897, was elected to the office of justice of the peace, being the
youngest man ever elected to that office in Crawford county. Up to
the time of his election he had been a member of the law firm of Fuller,
Randolph & Watson, but after election, the duties of his office took all
his time and attention. On April 27, 1898, two days after the formal
declaration of war against Spain, Mr. Watson left his office and went
to the recruiting headquarters in Pittsburg, enlisting as a private in
Compan}- D, Twentieth Kansas regiment. This was the first day that
volunteer enlistments were received in Kansas. Almost immediately
upon the organization of his company he was elected first lieutenant,
and the regiment shortly afterwards was sent to San Francisco, where
they remained in camp about six months, when they sailed for the
Philippine Islands to engage in active service. Captain W^atson was
with his company in many weary marches and hard-fought battles and
skirmishes that fell to the lot of his regiment of brave Kansans. On
March 23, 1899, he was promoted to a captaincy and assigned to the
command of Company E, and six days later was wounded in the breast
bv a Remington bullet at the battle of Guiguinto, Luzon, and still carries
that gruesome souvenir in his body. He was carried from the field and
at the time was not expected to survive his wound. However, in time
he recovered sufficiently to be sent to San Francisco on the hospital
ship, Relief, arriving there August 29. After spending some time in
the states and recovering from his wound, he was offered a commission
in the Fortieth United States infantry, dating from August 17, 1899.
Shortly after joining his new regiment he was offered a detail as aide-
de-camp on the staff of General Funston, but preferring to remain in the
line command a captain, refused this offer. He was accordingly given
command of Company 'M, Fortieth United States regiment, and again
sailed for the Philippines, November 17, 1899. At the siege at Cagayan,
in Mindinao. .-Vpril 7, 1900, Captain Watson was again wounded by a
rifle ball in the foot, the wound being of such a serious nature that
blood poison resulted. After being sent to the hospital at Manila, nearly
a thousand miles distant, it was found necessary to amputate his leg just
below the knee. Being permanently disabled for active field service, he
. returned home and received his honorable discharge, July i, 1901, after
three j'ears and three months of service. Captain Watson spent some
time in recuperating his health and then resumed his law practice in
Pittsburg and was building up a profitable practice when he was ap-
pointed postmaster of Pittsburg, April i. 1902. and has served in that
capacity to the present time. He has been a painstaking and efficient
public officer and his administration of the affairs of the office has been
of a high standard. On November 11, 1899, before sailing the second
BIOGRAPHICAL I3I
time to the Philippines, Captain \\'atson was united in marriage at Pitts-
burg to Miss Lotta. daughter of John R. Lindburg, a prominent citizen
of Pittsburg, a personal sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this
volume. Mrs. Watson was educated in the public schools of Pittsburg
and the Monticello \\'oman's College, Monticello, Mo. Captain Watson
takes an active part in public affairs, and for six years has been a
member of the State Miliary Board, and has received the appointment
of Judge Advocate General with rank of Colonel. lie is president of
the Pittsburg Public Library Board, vice president of the Chamber of
Commerce, a director and vice president of the First National Bank of
Pittsburg, and a director of the Kansas Life Insurance Comi)any of
Topeka. He is a member of the Masonic lodge. Ancient Order of
United \\'orkmen, Knights and Ladies of Security, Fraternal .Aid, the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Beta Theta Phi.
Myron G. Stevenson, a respected resident and a well known business
man n{ Ashland. Kans., has been closely identified with the public and
business life of that town almost since its organization, and has been a
potential factor in its growth and development. Mr. .Stevenson is an
Ohio man. born in Youngstown, October i6, 1862. His father. Matthew
Stevenson was born in Ireland, January 4. 1834, and was educated for
the ministry. In 1856. however, he immigrated to the United States and
located at Youngstown. Ohio, where he engaged in the mercantile
business until 1872. There he married Miss Sarah Patton, in 1859. In
1872 he removed lo Indiana, where he ])rosi)ected as a coal operator and
for several years engaged in the mercantile business, at V'eedersburg.
He was similarily engaged at different points uj) to 1906, when the loss
of his eyesight compelled him to close a long and active business career.
He was a member of the Masonic order, and he and his wife resided
at Ashland until his death, October 16, 1913. Of their union, four
children were born: Miranda, born in i860, dicil in infancy; Myron
(j. ; Carrie E.. born October 3, i8('i4. married W. L. Livengood, at
Yeedersburg, Ind.. in 1885. and died in liope, Ark,. .SeiJtember 3. 1914.
and Warren I!., born July 2. 1869, died at N'eedersburg, Ind.. Sei)teniber
20. 1884.
Myron (i. Stexenson received his education in tiie pnlilic schools at
.Attica and N'eedersburg. Ind. ilis in(le|)en(lenl career began as a sales-
man and bookkeeper, in which cajjacities he served eight years. In 1884
he began the printer's trade at \'eedersburg. Ind.. and in 1886 came to
Ashland. Kans.. where he became foreman in the office of the Ashland
"Herald." in 1SS8 lie became editor and part owner of the .Ashland
"Journal." which he conducted until i8(/). It was a i)rogressivc Rei)ubli-
can paper and was discontiiuied in 1897. .\fter severing his newspaper
connections Mr. Stevenson entered the furniture business and conducted
a store in .\shland until 1907. In the nie.intinie he became a licensed
embaimer and funeral director, which l)usiness he still carries on.
132 BIOGRAPHICAL
In 1907 he gave up his furniture business and opened an insurance,
loan and abstract office, Kj which he has since given his attention in
connection with the undertaking business. In 1910 he was elected a
justice of the peace. In 1912 he was elected clerk of the district court
of Clark county, and in 1914 was re-elected by a large increased majority.
In his political views Mr. Stevenson is a Reiniblican and has always
been a very active and prominent worker in behalf of his party. For
eighteen years he was a member of the Clark County Republican Cen-
tral Committee, of which he has served as chairman and secretary. He
also has been at different times a memljer of the state, senatorial, con-
gressional and judiciary committees, and is an influential factor in both
local and state politics. He served as clerk of the judiciary committee
in the Kansas house of representatives during the session of 1895.
Fraternally he is a member nf the time-honored Jtlasonic order, and
numerous others.
On October 5, 1890, Mr. Stevenson and Miss Delia C. Curtis of Ash-
land, were united in marriage. Mrs. Stevenson was born August 25,
1864, at Bushnell, 111., a daughter of George W. Curtis, a pioneer farmer
of Clark county, Kansas, and a native of Kentucky. He is a veteran of
both the Mexican and Civil wars and now alternately resides with his
daughters, Mrs. Stevenson of Ashland, and Mrs. Pearson of Emporia,
Kans. Mrs. Stevenson came to Kansas with her parents in 1885. and for
several years prior to her marriage was a teacher in Clark county. She
is a member of the Baptist church. To Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson have
been born two children : Chester A., born at Topeka, Kans., October
10, 1891, is a student in a business school, at Wichita. Kans. ; Miss Xaida
Z., born at Ashland, August 20. 1893. is a teacher of kindergarten, at
present specializing in her work at the state normal school, Emporia,
Kans.
Henry W. Chapman, now serving his second term as county treasurer
lit L'cimanche cnunt}'. is widely and favorably known throughout tliat
section of the state. He was born June 27, 1872, on a farm in Macon
county, Missouri, and is a son of Harry and Lucy Ann (Brown) Chap-
man. The father was a native of Connecticut, born at Winstead in
1836, and when a young man was engaged in the manufacturing of
pocket cutlery for a number of years. In 1872 he came west with his
familv, locating at Macon county, Missouri, where he bought land and
was engaged in farming until 1884. He then came to Comanche county,
Kansas, and was one of the founders of Coldwater, being a member of
the original Coldwater Townsite Company. At one time he owned a
claim adjoining the townsite, for which he refused an offer of $75,000.
Shortly afterwards during a period of depression this .same property
was sold for taxes, but has become \-aluable property again. In 1889,
he took part in the original opening of and settlement of Oklahoma,
where he spent the latter i)art of his days. He died at llobart. ( )kla.,
BIOGUAIMIICAL
133
July 4. 19;)8. :ind liis wife passed away December 2, of the same year.
Tlicy were the parents of five children: Florence. L., born in i860,
unmarried, a teacher in the public schools of Indianapolis, Ind. ;
Charles, Immmi in 1862. resides at Trinidad. Colo.; Henry W.. the subject
of this re\ iew ; Katherine. born in 1874. now the wife of Irving H. Staf-
ford, (Jklahoma City. Okla., and .Mace, born in 1879. resides at llol)art,
Cjkla. Henry W. Chapman, while a young man, has had a broad expe-
rience and varied career. He received his education in the public schools
of Macon county, and Fort Scott. Kans. 1 le was a pioneer school teacher
of Comanche county, and for eleven years was engaged in educational
work in that cnunly. In i8<j3 he was at the opening of the Cherokee
strip, and ]>ro\ed up on a claim in Crant county, Oklahoma. In U)Oj
his health failed, and. on account of a paralytic stroke he has not been
active in business affairs since that time. He has taken a prominent
part in politics and is a consistent advocate of the policies and principles
of the Democratic party, and in 1912 was elected county treasurer of
Comanche county and his conduct of the affairs of that office was satis-
factory to the electors of Comanche county and he was re-elected to
succeed himself in 1914. Mr. Chai)man was married December 29,
1901, at Wichita, Kans., to Miss May, daughter of lliram ( ). and Anna
(Collett) Ilolderb)-, of Coldwater. The Holderby family are pioneer
settlers of Coldwater, where the father has been iirominem in the affairs
of Comanche county, serving one term as county treasurer. Mrs. Ciiap-
man was born in 1877. To Mr. and Mrs. Cha])man have been born three
children : i-'rancis, Floann and William Hull. Mr. Cha])man is a mem-
ber of the Knights of Pythias, Independent Order of Odd I'-ellows,
Modern Woodmen and has been a delegate to the head camp two ses-
sions, at Milwaukee and Toledo, and belongs to the Presbyterian church
and takes an active ])art in the work of the congregation.
Sheldon B. Hewett, M. D., a leading physician and surgeon of Girard,
Kans.. is a native son of Kansas. He was born in Crawford comity,
seven miles west of Cirard, January i, 1878, and is a son of James ^\.
and Jennie (Brown) Hewett. The father was a native of Pennsylvania,
born February 12, 1841, a son of Collins .A. and Martha (Moore)
Hewett. natives of New York and Pennsylvania, respectively. Collins
.\. Hewett was a I'.aplist minister, and came to Crawford county, Kansas,
in 1871. He assisted in building the first ISaptist church in Girard. and
preached there for a time. He was also active in his work as a minister
in other ])arts of Crawford county, preaching at Cherokee and Lightning
Creek churciies for a time. He died in i87(). and his wife departed tliis
life the following year. James M. Hewett left his native state when a
\oung man and went to Illinois, but returned to i'ennsyhania in a short
time. Later he removed to Macon. Mo., and shortly afterwards came
to Kansas and l)oiinhi a farm consisting of iC>o acres of railroad
134 BICGRAPHICAL
land, seven miles west of Girard. He added to this from time to time,
and at the time of his death owned 320 acres. He came to Crawford
county in 1870, which was an early day in the settlement of that section
of the state. Girard had hardly attained the rank of a country village,
but even then the village contained a cosmopolitan population, as the
institutions of the place consisted of a store, a church and a saloon, but
there appears to be no record of which received the largest patronage.
James AI. Hewett was married March 22, 1870, to Miss Jennie Brown, a
native of Dublin, Ireland. She was a daughter of Alexander and
Katherine M. Brown, both now deceased. Alexander Brown was a
prominent newspaper man in Dublin in early life. He immigrated to
America with his family, first locating in Saybrook. Mass., and from
there removed to Xorristown, Penn., and died shortly after locating at
that place. His wife died about the same time and thus their daughter,
Jennie, afterwards Mrs. Hewett, became an orphan at an early age.
She was reared to womanhood in Pennsylvania by a family named Whit-
ing. To James M. and Jennie ( Brown ) Hewett, were born five children,
four of whom grew to maturity, as follows: Collins A., Girard. Kans. ;
Katie, married John 'SI. Carlisle, Butte, Mont.; Jue, widow of Alfred Mal-
lette. Butte, Alont., and Sheldon B., the subject of this sketch. Dr.
Hewett spent his boyhood daj's on his father's farm in Crawford county
and attended the district schools and later attended the Girard High
School. He then entered the University Medical College. Kansas City,
and was graduated with the class of 1904 with a degree of Doctor of
Medicine. He immediately engaged in the practice of his profession at
Redfield. Kans., where he remained until 1908, when he removed to
Girard, wdiich has since been the scene of his professional activities.
In 1912 he founded the Girard Hospital, and in addition to his practice
conducted that institution until July, 1914, when he sold it to the Girard
Commercial Club. However, he still retains an interest in that in-
stitution and is president of the board of directors. Dr. Hewett has
been eminently successful in the practice of his profession, which has
been principally along the lines of general practice, although he has
specialized extensively in the treatment of liquor and morphine habits
and has met with unusual success in that field of professional endeavor.
Dr. Hewett was married August 14, 1907, to Miss Bessie Jobe, of
Uniontown, Kans. Dr. Hewett is a member of the Independent Order
of Odd Fellows. Knights of Pythias, .\ncient Order of United Workmen.
Modern Woodman of .\merica, Kansas Fraternal Citizens, Fraternal
Union and the County, State and American Medical Associations. Polit-
ically he is a Democrat and is secretary of the local board of United
States Pension Examiners, and served as county physician of Crawford
county during the year of 191 1. He holds membership in the Metho-
dist Episcopal church.
BIOGRAPHICAL I35
William Henry Kimple, pioneer and \eteran of the Civil war, lias for
over thirty years been an active factor in the life of Comanche coiint>-.
He is a native of the Keystone state, and was born in Philadelphia,
October 3, 1844. His parents were William and Christiana (Miller)
Kimple, The father was born in New Jersey in 1813. of .Scotch parent-
age. They were farmers, and the father died in Philadelphia, Pa., in
1858, and the mother passed away in Xew Jersey in 1889. They were
the parents of three children, as follows : Lorenzo Dow, was a physi-
cian and served as an army surg;eon in a Pennsylvania res^inient diirins:;
the Civil war and died at Philadeljihia, in 1875 ; William Henry, the sub-
ject of this sketch, and Sylvester, who was a silk manufacturer in New
York city, died in 1877. William Henry Kimple received his education
in the ])ublic schools of I'ennsylvania. and in 1856 went to Iowa to live
with relatives in Wayne county, making- his home there until 1862, when,
at the age of eighteen years he enlisted as a private in Company M,
Third regiment. Iowa cavalry. He served three years in the Civil war
and particii)ated in many hard-fought and important engagements, and.
like many others, fortunately, escaped any serious wound. At the close
of the war, and after receiving an honorable discharge from the service
he returned to Wayne county, Iowa, and engaged in agricultural pur-
suits until 1878, when he sold his farm and removed to Alacon, Mo. He
then engaged in railroad construction work until 1884. when the future
possibilities of Comanche county were brought to his attention. He
came west and located at Coldwater, and engaged in the livery business.
Coldwater was then a new town and his was the first business of the
kind there. He also took up government land at the same time, and
for twenty-four years conducted a livery business at Coldwater. Ik-
took an active part in the development of the new county, .ind has
taken a keen interest in the business devclo])ment and welfare of the
community since locating there. Mr. Kimple has been twice mar-
ried. His first wife, to whom he was married December 25, 1867. was
Miss Miss Jennie Rogers, daughter of I'^lijah and Mary Rogers, of
Wayne county, Iowa. Three children were born to this imion, as fol-
lows: Estella, l)orn Deceml)er 20, 1868, married .\ll)crt Kyle. 'I'rivoli,
111.: Frank Albert, born X'ovcmber 18, 1870, married F.va L. Halliday,
and they ha\e three children, John W'.. P'rank .\. and denevieve Lyle,
and Warren, born .Se|)tember 20, 1873, died in i8Sq. Tlie wife and
mother of these children died February 20, 1878, and on November 19,
1879. Mr. Kim|)lc was married at Macon, Mo., to Miss Kate, daughter
of Charles M. and Cathc'rine Delia (I'niey) Mclntyre, the father a na-
tive of Massachusetts and the nvithci- of Ireland. The former died in
1880. at the age of fifty-three, and the latter passed away. Ma\- 7.
1914, at the age of seventy-nine. They were the parents of nine children.
as follows: William. John H., Kate, Mamie. Anii.i J.. Josejih 1'., Mar-
garet W., Charles M., and l-'rancis M. The l;itter is one of the editors
136 BIOGRAPHICAL
and owners of "The Talisman," a weekly newspaper ]niblished at Cold-
water. To William H. Kimple and Kate Mclntyre were born two
children, Jennie Winifred, born Angust 13, 1880, at Macon, Mo.,
graduated at Friends University, Wichita, in the class of 1903, where
she specialized in music. On October 11, 1905, she married Roy Clar-
ence Coles, a native of Kentucky, born April 24, 1880, and came to Cold-
w-ater, Kans.. with his parents in 1885. He is now engaged in the live-
stock business at Coldwater, Kans. Harry Sylvester, the second child,
was born November 18, 1882. in Macon county, Missouri, and is now en-
gaged in the livery business at Coldwater, Kans. He was married April
I, 1903, to Miss IMayme Powell, a native of Iowa, born May 30, 1882.
^Ir. Kimple is a Republican and has been a life-long supporter of the
policies and principles of that part\". and has held various city offices
at times. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.
Davis T. Mclntire, ex-sheriff of Comanche county, has been actively
identified with the development of Kansas for forty-five years. He was
born in Mercer county, Kentucky. January n, 1847, and comes from old
Kentucky stock. He is a son of John C. and Xancy Jane (Bottom) Mc-
lntire; the father was born on the same place that our subject was. He
was prominent in the public life of his county and for a number of years
was a member of the county court. During the Civil war he served in
the Eleventh Kentucky cavalry (Union), for three years, and made an
honorable military record. 1 Ic was wounded at the battle of Atlanta,
from the effect of which he never fully recovered. He was a prominent
^lason and a member of the Ilaptist church. He died at Rose Hill. Ky.,
in 1892, and his wife passed away in 1861. They were the parents of
seven children, as follows: Davis T.. the subject of this sketch; Dud-
ley A., burn in 1849, resides at Arkansas City, Kans.; Elizabeth, born
in 1851. now the wife of "Dock" De\'ine, Houston, Te.x. ; Xanc\- C. born
in 1853. the wife of W. V. Craves, retired farmer. Harrodsburg. Ky. ;
Perlina lillen, born in 1855. married Thomas Board, farmer, Perryvil'e,
Ky. ; John W.. died in 1904 at Rose Hill. Ky., and Katherine Belle,
died in 1861. Davis T. Mclntire spent his boyhood days on his father's
farm in Kentucky, and was reared midst the surroundings of those early
days, which offered very little opportunity for an education to the aver-
age bov. However, he was quick to grasp things, and learned easily, and
even under the conditions of the lime acquired a fairly goi>d education,
and during his entire life has ever been a close oliserver and a student
of men and events, and is one of the best posted men in Comanche
county. His first occupation after leaving the home farm was driving
stage in Missouri. He followed this about a year and in 1870, he, with
some associates, drove a herd of sheep west, as far as Ellsworth. Kans.,
which was then one broad, o])en range of wild and unsettled country.
Here he bought an ox-train outfit, and engaged in freighting across the
plains. He hauled the material for the first building that was erected
IIIOGRAI'HICAL
13;
at F.llinwood. lie was at Dodge City wlien the first house was erected
there. When he went to western Kansas, biiftalii were ])lentiful and
marauding bands of hostile Indians were not unusual. He came in
contact with Indians at times and hunted buffalo frequentl>, and, in
fact, made buffalo hunting his business for about two years and killed
hundreds of them for their hides. He then located ])crmaneutly at
Ellinwood, where he was engaged in the cattle business a few years, and
in 1877 came to Comanche county and established a cattle ranch on Mule
creek, where he has been successfully engaged in the cattle business and
has met with very good success. In 18S5. when Comanche countv was
organized, he was appointed a member of the first board of county com-
missioners, and two years later was elected sheriff of the county, serv-
ing for four years in that capacity. That was a time when a man who
held the office of sheriff in a frontier Kansas county was a sheriff in
fact as well as in naiue. He had conditions to meet that took courage
and endurance, and Siieriff ;\lclntire's lot was no exception. In 1902
he was elected to the legislature, and during that session was a mem-
ber of se\eral im])ortant committees and was influential in the legisla-
tion of that session. In 18S7 he was again elected sheriff of Comanche
county, serving two years; re-elected, serving two years; out four years;
re-elected twice; being elected four times and serving a total of eight
years. Mr. Mclntire has been a lifelong Democrat, and stands high in
the councils of his party in the state. He is a member of the Christian
church. On October 6. 1876, Davis T. Mclntire :md Miss .\ceniih C.
Bailey were united in marriage. She was ]>'<vn in Indiana, in 1861, a
daughter of Thomas and Kathcrine (I'lummer) Uailew both natives
of Indiana. To .Mr. and .Mrs. Mclntire have been born three children:
Frank M.. born at I^llinwood. Kans., in 1880, married .Mice l>aker, in
IQ02, and the\- have one child, .\udra. Frank M. is now a farmer and
stockman in Comanche county. The second child, Thomas j.. civil
engineer. Den\er, born in 1S88, married Margaret I'.ooler. in i';o8, and
Florence, the youngest, died in infancy.
L. B. Kackley, M. D., a |)rominent jihysician and surgeon of Parsons,
Kans., is a native of the liuckcye State. Dr. Kackley was born in
Noble county, Ohio, May 2, 1852. and is a son of Dr. j. j. and Margaret
(Keller) Kackley, natives of Ohio and of (Jerman <lescent. The Kackley
family first settled in America, at a place which later became known as
Kackley's Mills, near Capron Springs, Va. Dr. J. J. Kackley removed
to Iowa in 1855, and settled at Mt. .\yr, Ringgold county. He took up
a homestead in that section of Iowa, and practiced medicine at Mt.
Ayr about two years, when he removed to (nithrie county, Iowa, where
he was engaged in the jjractice of his profession twelve years. He then
went to lienton county, Arkansas, where he was also engaged in tiie
l^ractice of medicine about a year. In April, 1874, he came to Kansas,
locatinir at Chetopa, where he was successfully cngai^a-d in the i)racticc
138 BIOGRAPHICAL
of his profession until his retirement about six years ago. He and his
wife now reside at Chetopa, where they are enjoying the sunset of their
lives. He is eighty-nine years old and his wife is eighty-five. They
are both in the best of health and live alone and maintain their own
home, just as they did a half century ago. They are the parents of two
children: Dr. L. B. Kackley, whose name introduces this sketch, and
Capitola, now the wife of C. B. Carpenter, Bartlesville, Okla. Dr. L. B.
Kackley was educated in the public schools of Iowa, and at the age of
eighteen engaged in teaching, and followed that profession four years,
and in 1874 went to Arkansas with his parents, where he engaged in the
drug business. In 1875, when the family removed to Chetopa, Kans.,
he brought his stock of drugs with him, and opened a drug store at
Chetopa, and conducted a drug store there for three years. In the mean-
time he read medicine under the preceptorship of his father and prac-
ticed medicine under his father's supervision until 1880, when he entered
the Keokuk ^^ledical College. Keokuk, Iiiwa. and in 1881 returned to
Chetopa, and engaged in the practice of medicine with his father again,
remaining there until the fall of 1890. Dr. Kackley then entered the
University Medical College, Kansas City, Mo., \vhere he was graduated
March 17, 1891, with a degree of Doctor of Medicine. He then returned
to Chetopa and resumed the practice, where he. remained until 1900,
when he located at Parsons, where he has since been engaged in the
practice. \\'hile Dr. Kackley's practice is of a general nature, he gives
special attention to gynecology. Dr. Kackley was married December
24. 1876, to Miss Lillie F. Reamer of Stonyman, Va. To Dr. and Mrs.
Kackley have been born three children : Cleo, resides in South America ;
Vivian, a graduate of the Chetopa and Parsons High Schools, and for
a time was a student at the Kansas University, is now a teacher in the
Eastman Business College, Poughkeepsie, X. Y., and Walter J., consult-
ing engineer and superintendent of construction for the Everglade Land
Sales Company, Miami, Fla. He was educated in the public .'schools of
Chetopa and Parsons, graduating from the Parsons High School in the
class of 1904. and later entered the University of Kansas, Lawrence,
Kans., where he took the civil engineering course, and was graduated at
the head of his class in 1909. He has had an unusually successful
career in his chosen field of work, having held a number of responsible
positions in connection with various kinds of engineering and construc-
tion work. He accepted his present position in igii. He was married
November 7, 1914. to Miss Hilda Marie Baile, of Miami, Fla. Dr.
Kackley is a member of the County, State and American Medical Asso-
ciations, and has served as president of the County Association. He
is president of the Local Board of United States Pension Examiners.
He is a Knights Templar Mason. Dr. Kackley has met with a high
degree of success in his chosen profession and has a large practice. He
is a close student of the science of medicine and surger}-, and keeps
BIOGRAPHICAL I 39
well posted in the advance of this most important sphere of science,
which means so much to the welfare of the human race.
Thomas R. Jones, i)ostmaster, Girard. Kans., has figured conspicuously
in iJK- affairs of southeastern Kansas for nearly forty years. He is a
native of \^'alcs, horn March 24, 1858, and was brought to America by
his parents, Richard E. and Ellen (Griffith) Jones, when he was less
than a year old. The family located in the coal regions of Pennsylvania,
where the father was engaged as a miner, and later followed that voca-
tion in Ohio until 1875, when they removed to Illinois, and a year later
went to Missouri. In 1877 Thomas R. Jones came to Kansas and was
employed in sinking the first shaft in the coal fields of Crawford county.
He worked as a miner until 1885, when he became foreman fur the
Pittsburgh & Midway Coal Mining Company, continuing in that
capacity until 1903. In 1902 he was elected jjrobate judge of Crawford
county on the Republican ticket, and re-elected in 1904 and very cajiably
filled that office for two terms. He then engaged in the flour and feed
business at Girard, for a time, and on April i, 1908, was appointed
postmaster at Girard and in the management of that office has showed
the same capalilc business ability which had characterized his i)ri\'ate
and public career. The (iirard postoffice was a second class office
when he became postmaster, and on July, 1913, it became a first class
office. However, it was returned to its former classification as a second
class office a year later. Few towns, if any, in the United States, of
the size of Girard has ever reached as high a classification in the postal
department. Mr. Jones was married December 25, 1880, to Miss Eliza-
beth, daughter of James and Mary (Bishop) Tanyge, natives of Corn-
wall, luigland. Mrs. Jones was born in Maryland and came to Kansas
with lier parents in 1877. To Mr. and Mrs. Jones have been boni si.\
children: Harry, resides in Arizona; i'Uhei. married Dr. i'lank J.
McXaught, Girard, Kans.; Thomas, Jr., James R., .\rthur 1 ). and Grace.
Mr. Jones is a Republican and has been active in the affairs of his party,
both locally and in state i)olitics. He is a member of the Ancient Free
and Accepted Masons, Knights of Pythias, independent Order of Odd
Fellows and the Benevolent and I'rotective Order of I-'lks. The family
are members of the E])iscoiial church.
Richard Fairfax Mackey, county surveyor of Comanche county, has
been an active factor in the development of southern Kansas and
Oklahoma for over thirty years. Mr. Mackey was born in Cattaraugus
county. New York, January 20, 1867. and is a son of Oscar J. and .Avis
W. (brew) Mackey. The father comes from an old New York State
family, and was born October 17. 1841. in Cattaraugus counly. lie was
engaged in farming and operated a sawmill in his nali\e county until
1874, when he came to Kansas, locating on governmeiil land in Edwards
county. He was one of the organizers of that county, and was suc-
cessfully engaged in farming and stock raising there until 1902, when he
140 BIOGKAI'HICAL
removed to I'.entonville, Ark., where he is now living retired. He is a
veteran of the Ci\il war, having served as a private in Company ],
'rhirty-se\-enth regiment. New York A-olunteer infantry, and at tlie ex-
piration of about one year was discharged on account of disabilitx". He
is a Repubhcan, and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows. His wife, Avis W. Drew, was also a native of New York, born
in 1842. She was a daughter of Xoah Drew, also a native of the Empire
State. She died at Bentonville, Ark., November 20, 1907. To Oscar
J. and Avis W. JMackey were born six children, as follows: Isa, born
September 16, 1863, died September 20, 1912; Richard F., the subject of
this sketch ; Ada, born November 20. 1870, married A. J. Henninger,
farmer, \\'oodward county, Oklahoma; Emma, born ]\Iay 20, 1872, died
May 20, 1877; Gilbert E., born January 26, 1874. and Frank Odtll, burn
October 20, 1879. Richard F. Mackey was educated in the puljlic
schools of New York, and was graduated from the engineering depart-
ment of Chamberlain Institute, Randolph, N. Y., in the class of 1884.
The following year he came to Kansas and located in Kiowa county,
and for about two years was engaged as a ci\il engineer on the Chicago,
Rock Island & Pacific railroad. He then went to "No Man's Land"
and was a cowboy until 1891, when he received the appointment of clerk
of the United States District Court at Beaver, Okla., and held that office
three years. During that time he also published a newspaper there
known as the "Territorial Advocate," which was one of the pioneer
newspapers of Oklahoma. In 1893, when the Cherokee strip was opened
to settlement, he took a claim in \\'oodward county and engaged in
the cattle business, remaining there nine years. During this time he
also served two terms as deputy county surveyor of Woodward county,
and was postmaster at Cupid for., eight years. By the way, it might
be mentioned here, that he gave the town its name. In 1904 he re-
turned to Kansas, locating at Ashland, and served as county surveyor
of Clark county six years. In 1907 he compiled the published the first,
and t)nly atlas ever published of Clark county. It contains accurate
and complete maps of the thirty-five geographical townships, giving the
name of each landholder and showing the amount of his holdings. It
also shows school houses, highways, railroads, etc. In 1910 Mr. Mackey
moved to Protection, Kans., and was elected county surveyor of
Comanche county, and has held that office to the present time. He was
united in marriage, April 28, 1896, at Cupid, Okla., to Miss Pearl Irene,'
daughter of James M. and Jennie (Stadley) Valentine. Mrs. Mackey
was born in Morgan county, Illinois, l-'eln-uary 20, 1880, and came to
Kansas with her parents, who located at Madison, in 1S84. In 1885
they removed to Clark cciunty locating on governnicnl land, where the
father took an active part in the early organization and development of
the county and was successfully engaged in farming until 1903, when
he engaged in business at .\shland. He and his wife were both natives
BIOGRAPHICAL I4I
of Illinois. They were the parents of seven children, as follows: Pearl
Irene, the wife of Richard F. Mackey of this review; Cloyd John, horn
June 12, 1881 ; Grace lilton, born November 29, 1883; Ciuy Standley, born
October 19, 1885; Edna May, born October 9, 1887; Bertha Elmira, born
October 9, 1889, and Roy Edwards, born Septemlier 19, 1891. Mr. and
Mrs. Mackey have one child. Avis Isabella, born June 7, 1907. at Ash-
land, Kans. Mr. Mackey is a Thirty-second decree Scottish Rite Alason
and his wife is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star. They are
well known throu,q;hout southwestern Kansas and prominent in the
community where they reside.
Charles M. Cole, a well known farmer and stockman of Cnldwatei".
Kans.. is a pioneer settler of Comanche county. He was born on a
farm in Moniteau county, Missouri, February 25, i860, and is a son of
Parmenas B. and Fannie (Schutlar) Cole, both natives of Missouri. The
father was born in Cooper county, Missouri, in 1840, and was a son of
Samuel Cole, who was a very early settler of Missouri and froin whom
Cole county, Missouri, got its name. Parmenas Cole is now a prominent
farmer and stockman near Medicine Lodfje, Kans. Charles M. Cole is
one of a family of eight children, as follows: Sallie, married Will haul-
ier in i8g6, and died in 1904; Samuel J., born in 1862, merchant, Sharon,
Kans.; Ilolbert, born in 1864, farmer in Cheyenne county, Oklahoma;
Fannie, born in 1866, married Ed. Goff in 1885, and resides at Medicine
Lodge, Kans.; P. P>risco, born in 1868, farmer, I'.arber county. Kansas,
Mamie, born in 1870, now the wife of J. M. iUisJieai;, Medicine Lodge.
Kans., and James Mtmroe, born in 1872, farmer, .\nderson count}-,
Kansas. Charles M. Cole received his education in the i)ul)lic schools
of Moniteau county, Missouri, and remained on the farm with his father
until 1881, when they came to Barber county, Kansas, and brought with
them 2,500 head of cattle. Barber county at that time was open range,
and sparsely settled. Here Charles M. and his father bought land and
esla1)lished a cattle ranch, and carried on an extensive c;>ttle business
until 1884, when Charles M. came to Comanche coimty and established
a cattle ranch of his own in the southern part of the coiuity. lie bouglit
land, engaged extensively in tlie cattle business and ])rospore<l and now
owns a splendid ranch of 3,500 acres, all fenced and well improved and
is one of the ideal stock ranches of southern Kansas. He makes a
specialty of Hereford cattle and blooded horses, and through his in-
dustry and ca]ial)le business management has become one of the
wealthy men of Comanche county. He now resides in Coldwater, where
he has one of the best modern residences in the county. Mr. Cole was
united in marriage December 25, 1878, in Moniteau county. Missouri,
to Miss Minnie Barbour, the marriage ceremony taking place in tiie
same house in which the groom was born. Mrs. Cole was a daughter
of W. H. and Jane (Compton) Barbour, residents of Moniteau county,
Missouri, where Mrs. Cole was born August 24, 1862. Her parents
142 BIOGR-XPHICAL
came to Missouri from Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Cole have two
children: Myrtle May, born January 2^. 1880, married George ^IcDon-
ald. Coldwater, Kans. ; Parmenas Marshall, born January 20. 1882, mar-
ried Alice Clutz. and they have four children, Mildred, Hallie, Herman
and James Lloyd. The Cole famih- are well known and highly respected
and have many friends in Comanche county. Mr. Cole is a Democrat,
but so far in life has had neitlier time nor inclination to aspire to hold
political office.
Joseph E. Harbaugh, county clerk of Comanche county, is a Kansas
pioneer. He was born in Washington county, Iowa, January 18. 1859,
and is a son of Eli and Catherine ( Engle ) Harbaugh. Eli Harbaugh
was a native of Ohio, born August 2^, 1825, and a pioneer of Iowa, as
well as of Kansas. He was a descendant of Maryland parents and in
early life worked at the cabinet makers' trade in Ohio. In 1849 '^^
went to Iowa and settled in Washington county, which was then in
the far \\'est. He remained there and followed farming until 1883,
when he came to Kansas, and in 1884 located in Comanche county and
was one of the first settlers in that section of the state. He located
on government land, remaining about two years when he removed to
Barber county and bought a ranch about eight miles south of ^ledicine
Lodge, where he was successfulh- engaged in farming until his death,
March 17. 1910. His wife. Catherine Engle, was a daughter of Nicholas
Engle. She was a native of Germany, and came to this country with
her parents, when four years of age. She died in 1865. Joseph E. Har-
baugh is one of a family of nine children, as follows : Henry Ford,
^^'ellington, Kans.; Rufus O. (deceased); Mary A., married U. S. Lan-
dis. Kiowa, Kans.; Joseph E., the subject of this review; Peter F., re-
sides in Scott county, Arkansas; Jacob B., county commissioner of Bar-
ber county, Kansas; Julia (deceased); \\'illiam Nicholas (deceased);
George A., miller and banker. Alva, Okla. Joseph E. Harbaugh was
reared to manhood in Washington county, Iowa, where he attended the
public schools, and in 1878 came to Kansas with his brother, Rufus,
and worked on a farm in Sumner county until 1884. He then went to
Comanche county and located on government land in \^alley township.
He bought additional land, from time to time, and is nmv an extensive
land owner in both Comanche and Harper counties, and in addition to
his farming operations he operated a general mercantile store at Cold-
water for some time. Mr. Harbaugh is a Democrat and has always
taken a keen interest in political and public affairs. In 1896 he was
elected county clerk of Comanche county, serving four years. He
served as county commissioner from 1901 to 1904, one year of which
he was chairman of the board. In 1907 he was elected sheriff, and in
1912 received the nomination for county clerk and was elected and in
1914 he was re-elected to that office, and is now serving in that capacity.
Throughout his long public career, Mr. Harbaugh has ever been faithful
BIOGRAPHICAL I43
to the trust imposed in liini and has always given the puljlic the best
service of which he was capaljle, and the number (if times tliat he has
been called to public office in Comanche ccnmty bears testimony of the
esteem in which he is held by his fellow citizens. lie is probably the
best known man in Comanche county. Mr. Ilarbaugh was married May
4, 1890, at Medicine Lodge, Kans., to Miss Belle Moore, a native of Chase
count}', Kansas, born October 20. 1868, of pioneer Kansas parents, who
were among the very first settlers of that section of the state. To Mr.
and Mrs. Harbaugh have been born eight children: Myrtle A., mar-
ried A. L. Becley. farmer, Comanche county ; Edward 1'.. married Mabel
T. Guyer, Comanche county; Fred R., deputy county clerk, Coldwatcr,
Kans.; Ada M., married II. j. .Settle, farmer. Lane county, Kansas;
Mayme I'aye, Ned \\ ., (iaile C. and Lillie M. The family are members
of the Christian church and well and favorably known in the community.
Mr. Ilarbaugh is a Thirty-second degree Mason, being a member of
Wichita Consistory.
Lessen Green Pike, a Kansan pioneer, now a progressive and pros-
])erous farmer and stockman of Clark county, is a native of North Caro-
lina, lie was born in Chatham county, that state, January 11, 1851. and
is a son of Jesse and Mary ( Hodgin ) I'ike, both natives of .Vorth Caro-
lina, and of English ancestry. The father died in 1898 and the mother
departed this life in 1904. Lessen Green Pike is one of a family of
eight children: Louise, deceased; Sarah, deceased; Lossen G., the sub-
ject of this sketch ; William M., Solomon, Nathan V.., a sketch of whom
appears elsewhere in this volume; .\manda and Jnhn. Lossen (J. Pike
removed from his native state to Ilamiltun cnunty, Indiana, in 1871.
and followed farming there until 1880. He then came to Kansas, locat-
ing in Butler county, where he bought an improved farm and remained
on it for five years. In 1885 he sold his Butler county property and
remo\ed to Clark county, w here he settled on government land in Lex-
ington township, lie still owns his original homestead, to which he has
added 500 acres of valuable farm land, where he is extensively engaged
in stock business and diversified farming. He is one nf the progressive
and up-to-date farmers and stockmen of Clark county. Mr. Pike is a
Republican and jirominent in the local councils of his ])arty, and takes
a keen interest in public affairs. He has served seven years as a mem-
ber of the board of county commissioners of Clark county. He was
united in marriage January 24, 1873, to Miss Martha, daughter of James
and Kisuh Slaley, a native of North Carolina, born July 26. 1852.
Four children were born to this union, as follows: Charles, born Decem-
ber 3, 1873; Lizzie, born December 22, 1874, died in infancy; William
Clarence, born August 26, 1878, died January 6. 1883. and Rose .Altha, born
January 4. 1882. a graduate of the .Xshland High School, married John
D. Denney, March 31, 1906. He is a son of David B. Denney, a sketch
of whom appears in this volume. To Mr. and Mrs. Denney have been
144 I!I(-r,R.\PHICAL
born one cliild. John Paul, liorn February to. 1908. Mrs. Pike died
January 16, 191 1. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal
church all her life, and was an exemplary Christian woman. Mr. Pike
is also a member of the IMethodist Episcopal church, and is a conscien-
tious worker in the cause of Christianity.
Russell S. Russ, vice-president and treasurer of The Graves l""arm
Loan Investment Company. Pittsburg. Kans.. was born near Hillsboro.
Ohio. February 9. 1864, and is a son of Dr. Matthew C. and Mary
E. ( Huftord I Russ. The father was a practisin;^- physician at Hillsboro.
Ohio, and died in the prime of manhood when Russell S. was a child
of three years of age. Russell S. Russ attended the district schools
and the Hillsboro High School. In 1882 he came to Kansas and taught
in district schools about seven years, and in the meantime continued
to improve his education by self-study. In 1889 he entered the Emporia
State Normal College, w'here he was graduated in the class of 1892.
After serving as superintendent of public schools at Madison. Kans..
and Osawatomie. he came to Pittsburg as superintendent of the
Pittsburg public schools in 1S97. AN'hile engaged as superintendent of
the city schools of Pittsburg he introduced the first industrial work in the
public schools of Kansas, and out of that developed the State Manual
Training Normal School, He was the founder of the State ^lanual
Training Normal School and was its first president. The administration
building of the institution. "Russ Hall," was named in honor of him.
He was active in the organization and development of that institution
until his resignation in 191 1, The State Manual Training Normal School
is the first institution of the kind in the United States, and its growth
has been phenomenal — over twent\-five hundred students being enrolled
this year. 1914, Students from all parts of the United States are in
attendance, and teachers have gone forth from this institution to all
parts of the country. As an educator and an organizer Mr. Russ has
few peers in the country. He left his imprint on practical education as
well as in the broader field of organized educational systems and in-
stitutions. In 1911 he became vice-president and treasurer of the
Graves Farm Loan Investment Company, and since that time has de-
voted himself to accomplishing things in the financial and commercial
world rather than unselfish devotion to the cause of education. While
engaged in educational work Mr. Russ was very active in teachers' in-
stitute work and delivered many lectures throughout the State on In-
dustrial Education, conducting many institutes. He is a pleasing and
forceable orator and his services on the platform arc in great demand
throughout the State in connection with educational conventions. For
a time he served as president of the Teachers" District A.ssociation. Mr.
Russ was united in marriage October 7, 1886, to Miss Lillian May
Denison. a native daughter of Kansas, She was educated in the public
schools and the state normal school at Emporia, and was a successful
BIOGRAPHICAL I45
teacher for seven years. .Mr. and Mrs. Russ have one child, Dr. C. M.
Russ, a well known dental surgeon of Pittsburg, Kans. He is a graduate
of the Pittsburg High School and \N'asliington University, St. Louis.
Mr. Russ takes an active interest in educational matters and is a pro-
found student of social and industrial progress. He is a inemlier
of the Pittsburg I,ibrary P.oard and has been superintendent of Sunday
school of the Presbyterian church, of which he and Mrs. Russ are
members. He is a member of the Pittsburg Masonic Lodge, No. 187,
Pittsburg Chapter, Xo. 59. R. A. M., Mt. Joie Commandry, No. 29, K. T.
of Pittsburg, of which he is past eminent commander. He also holds
membership in the Modern W'oodmen of America, the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks and the Pioneer Home Protective Society, of
\vhich he is a director.
David B. Denney, of Protection, has been a resident f)f the Sunllower
State for nearly thirty-five years and is one of the pioneers of Kansas.
He is a native of Indiana, born in Monroe county. May 15, 1847, and
is a son of Dawson and Rebecca (McNealey) Denney. The father was
a native of Kentucky, b(irn January 13, 1808, of North Carolina parents.
He went to Indiana in 1825, when the State of Indiana was less than
ten years old. Ho reinained in the wilderness of Indiana until 1855
when he went west and made a home on the plains of Iowa, settling
in Clark county on government land, and was one of the very first
settlers in that part of Iowa. He remained there until 1885, when he
came to Kansas and located in P~dwards county, where he spent the
remainder of his life. He died March 20, 1889, at the advanced age
of eighty-one. His wife, Reliecca McNealey, was a daughter of \\'illiam
and Susan McNealey. They were natives of Tennessee, where she was
born in 1814, and died October 26, i860. Dawson and Rebecca McNealey
Denney ware the ])arents of eleven children : William McNealey. liorn
in 1835, died in 1862; James, born in 1841, was a sergeant in Company
D, Thirty-ninth regiment, Iowa infantry, was taken ])risoner and died
in ]jrison ; the third born was a son, who died in infancy; David P>.,
subject of this sketch; Samuel Dawson, born in 1853; John T.., born in
1854; Susan Margaret (deceased); Sarah (deceased); Mary E. (de-
ceased); Rebecca E. (deceased), and Eliza E. (deceased). David B.
Denney was a lad of eight years when his ])arents went to Iowa, and
here he attended the pioneer schools of those days and grew In manhood
in the midst "i the jjrimitive surrounding of the new country; he was
still a mere boy when the Civil war came on, and in response to the
call for voltinteers he enlisted in Conijiany H. Xinth Iowa cavalry, and
served for two and ;i half years. He had an active military career and
saw a great deal of hard service, but escajied unwounded. However, his
horse was shot from under him on one occasion and he had several
narrow escaj^es common to the lot of a soldier in active service. .\t the
close of the war he returned to his Iowa home, where he fcillowod farming
146 BIOGRAPHICAL
until 1881 when he came to Kansas, locating in Sumner county, where
he remained until 1885 when he went to Comanche county and took up
government land seven miles north of Protection. He sold that place
in 1894 and bought land in Bluff creek valley. Clark county, where he
now has a splendid farm of 1.300 acres, all well improved and under
a high state of cultivation. He is one of the extensive alfalfa growers
of that section of the state, and is an all-around twentieth century farmer
and stock raiser. Mr. Denney was married September 11. 1874, to ^liss
Mary C, daughter of John and Catherine (Joy) Davenport. Mrs. Denney
was born in Iowa June 11. 1846; her parents Avere natives of Pennsyl-
vania and very early Ipwa settlers. To Mr. and Mrs. Denney have been
born ten children, as follows ; Ina, born April 9, 1876, died April 10, 1881 ;
Munford E.. born September 11, 1877; John Dawson, born October 26,
1879; the fourth, a son. died in infancy; INIary C. born October 9, 1883,
died July 11. 1884; Blanche L., born October i, 1884, now the wife of C.
C. Towner ; the seventh and eighth born were sons, who died in infancy ;
Sarah lola, born October 8. 1890, and William Garfield, born February
19, 1892. Mr. Denney is a Republican and one of the substantial citizens
of Clark cnunty. The family are members of the Christian church.
Charles E. Harden, a pioneer and prosperous farmer and stockman
of Clark county, is a native of Indiana, born in Clay county. August 26.
1863. He is a son of Nathan and Emeretta (Arnold) Harden. Nathan
Harden was born in Knox county, Ohio, of Pennsylvania parentage,
March i, 1831. He removed to Indiana in an early day and from there
to Iowa in 1869. In 1884 he came to Kansas and located on government
land in Bluff creek valley, Clark county, being one of the first settlers
of that section of Kansas. He was active and influential in Clark county
and in 1895 removed to Oklahoma, locating at Shawnee, where he died
the same year. He was a Republican and a member of the Christian
church. He was married three times, his first wife being Miss Emeretta
Arnold, to whom nine children were born, as follows : Mary Ella, de-
ceased ; Jennie ^lay. deceased; Lusetta. deceased; Charles E., the sub-
ject of this sketch; Sue M.. married F. E. Lewis, farmer, Clark county;
Sarah Belle, married ^^'m. \'an Sittert, merchant, Cleveland. Ohio;
Henry L.. farmer, Comanche county, Kansas, and a daughter who died
in infancy. The wife and mother of these children died December 19,
1873. and two years later the father married Ella Hammond, who died
in 1877. no children being Ijorn to this union. In 1878 he married \'iola
J. McDonald and one child was born to this union. Nathan. Charles
E. Harden was a child of six years when his parents removed from
Indiana to Iowa. He attended school in the Hawkeye state and re-
mained on the farm of his father until 1884. when the family came to
Kansas, locating in Clark county. Young Harden located on govern-
ment land and began farming and stock raising for himself. For the
first few years he lived in a sod house and as a pioneer did his part
BIOGRAPHICAL 1 47
towards sulKhiing Ihe unhrnkcn plains of llic Soiuhwest, and is re-
warded by the ownership of 2,000 acres of some of the finest land in
Clark county. lie is one of the successful stockmen of that section.
He raises cattle, horses and blooded swine, and has been unusually
successful in this line of endeavor. Mr. Harden was united in marriage
February 11, 1890, at Coldwater, Kans., to Miss .\gnes, daughter of
William .\. and Margaret (Richardson) Gilchrist. Mrs. Harden is a
native of Pennsylvania, born in Mercer county, March 4, 1863, and was
a teacher for six years prior to her marriage. To Mr. and Mrs. Harden
liave been born four children, as follows: Chester X., born November 23,
1890; Laura Ethel, born December 27, 1892; Clarence James, born Feb-
ruary 23, 1895. and Paul Robert, born March 14, 1897. Mr. Harden is
a member of tlie Modern Woodmen of America and is a Republican.
Porter Seacat, Ashland, Kans. — Over forty years have passed since
this pioneer farmer and stockman first set foot on the green rolling
prairies of the Sunflower State. He was born in Harrison county. In-
diana, June 10. 1858, and is a son of Peter and Catherine Ann (Himes)
Seacat. The father was also a native of Indiana, born in Harrison county,
l-"el)ruary 26, 1821, a son of Peter Seacat, a native of (lermany and an
Indiana pioneer. Catherine Ann Himes, the mother of our subject, was
a native of Pennsylvania, born April i, 1828. In 1872 Peter Seacat re-
moved to Kansas with his family and settled in Cowley county, where
he followed farming until his death, September 18, 1896. his wife having
passed away April 18, 1882. They were the parents of ten children,
Charles, born October 2^^, 1847, died February 22, 1883; Harden, born
August 31, 1849, died November 20, 1873; Penelo])e. 1)orn September 8.
1851. married John Devore. farmer. Winfield. Kans.; Decter, born Oc-
tober 12, 1853, married John Marks, farmer, Winfield, Kans.; Thornton,
born December i, 1855, died September 21, 1896; Porter, the sultject of
this sketch; Fountain, born July 27. i860; Cassius M., l)"rn July 29,
1862; P.lanche, born January 22, 1866, married W. J. Mosler, farmer,
Winfield, Kans., and I'lorcnce, born .August 7, 1868, now the widow of
M. M. N'andiver. Porter Seacat came to Kansas with his parents in
1872 ;iud s])cnt tJie first twelve years in this state in Cowley county.
In 1884 he came to Clark county and located on government land in
I'lutT creek valley, fourteen miles northeast of Ashland. This was the
year beffire Clark county was organized. Mr. Seacat took a prominent
part in the early day organization, and since coming to this section of
Kansas has been a ])rominent fact(}r in its developiueiit and welfare. He
has devoted himself to farming and stock raising and has succeeded to
a marked degree, and is one of the prosperous men of Clark county. He
has added to his original homestead and now owns over 3,000 acres of
.some of the finest land in the county, all well improved and adapted to
his purposes, Mr. Seacat was united in marriage at Winfield, Kans.,
July 5, i88(). lo Miss Kisiah, daughter of John and Cynthia ( LaswellJ
148 BIOGRAPHICAL
Bookwalter. She is a native of Indiana, born December 17, 1862. To
Mr. and Mrs. Seacat have been born four children, as follows: Gracia,
born in Clark county July 15, 1887, a graduate of the state normal
school at Emporia. Kans.. class of 1913; Robert, born April 28, 1889.
graduated from the Kansas Wesleyan Business College in the class of
1910; Fred, born October 10. 1890, and Dona, born January 29, 1895,
educated at the State Xormal School of Emporia. Kans. Mr. Seacat is
a Republican, but has never aspired to hold political office. He is well
known in his county, where he is highly respected and has the confidence
of his many friends and neighbors.
Henry F. Fox, a pioneer farmer and stockman of Clark county, is a
native of Xorth Carolina. He was born in Chatham county, that state,
March 4, 185 1, and is a son of William H. and Alvira (Dixon) Fox,
natives of Xorth Carolina. Henry F. Fox remained in his native state
until he was nineteen years of age. when, in 1870. the family removed
to Saline county, Illinois, and four 3-ears later to Putnam count}', Indiana,
where he remained until 1879, when he came to Kansas, locating in
Butler county and followed farming there until 1887. He then removed
to Clark county, and located on government land in Blutt creek valley.
^^'hen he settled in Clark county the country was new and he passed
through the many hardships and discouragements incident to the life of
the early pioneer on the plains of Kansas. He lived in a sod house
for a number of years, and finally success came to him after many trials
and disappointments, and he is now one of the substantial farmers and
stockmen of the count}'. ]Mr. Fox is a Republican, and has served as
justice of the peace for one year. He was united in marriage March
24, 1872. to Miss Lydia. daughter of Harrison and Mary (Johnson)
Crater, a native of Indiana, born in Morgan county, March 24. 1857. To
]\Ir. and Mrs. Fox have been born six children, as follows: William
Harrison, a sketch of whom follows this article ; Anna Jane, born in
1876; John .\lbert. born in 1878; Charles Gideon, born in 1880; Preston
Garfield, deceased, and a son. who died in infancy.
William Harrison Fox, a well known farmer and stockman of Lexing-
ton township, Clark county, is a native of Indiana. He was born on
a farm in Morgan county, January 17, 1874, and is a son of Henry F.
Fox. a sketch of whom precedes this article. AN'illiam Harrison Fox
came to Kansas with his parents, who settled in Butler county, when
he was five years old, and in 1887 they removed to Clark county. Young
Fox attended the public schools in Butler and Clark counties and later
^took a course in the Wichita Business College. He then taught school
in Clark county for six 3'ears, and in 1905 was elected county clerk of
Clark county, and re-elected to that office in 1907. He has invested
in land from time to time, and now owns a well improved farm of 560
acres in Bluff creek valley, where he is successfully engaged in farming
and stock raising. Mr. Fox was married April 12. 1905. to ]\Iiss Anna
BIOGRAPHICAL I49
Josephine, daughter of C. B. D. and Agnes (Snow) Austin. Mis. Fox
is a native of Indiana, born April 21, 1874, and was a teacher in Clark
county for four years prior to her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Fox are
members of the Presbyterian church and are prominent in the com-
munity. Mr. Fox is a Repul)lican and active in the pcilitical affairs
of the county.
Nathan E. Pike, one of the first settlers of Clark county, who has been
identified with the development of that section of the state for over
thirty years, is a native of North Carolina. He was born in Chatham
county, February 14, 1S63, a son of Jesse and Mary (Hodgin) Pike, both
members of old North Carolina families, of English descent. The
father died April 11, 1898, and the mother, April 22, 1904. They were
the parents of eight children: Louise (deceased); Sarah (deceased);
I^ossen G.. a sketch of whom appears in this volume; William M.,
Solomon. Nathan E., the subject of this sketch, Amanda and John, In
1882, Nathan E. Pike removed from his North Carolina home to Indiana,
where he followed farming one year, and in 1883 came to Kansas and
for two years lived in Lyon. Marion and Butler counties. In 18S5 he
located on government land in Clark county and showed his good judg-
ment in the selection of a homestead in the fertile Buffalo creek valley,
where he has since been engaged in farming and stock raising. During
his first ten years in Clark county he met with many of the discouraging
features which invariably confronted the pioneers of the ])lains ; he lived
in a dugout and exi)erienced many inconveniences and privations, but
has been amply rewarded for his early day sacrifices, and now owns
one of the best farms in the county, and is one of the prosperous farmers
and stock raisers of that section. Mr. I 'ike was married ()ctober 4,
1885. in r.utler county, Kansas, to Miss Nancy Jane, daughter of Isaac
and Mary (Wood) Lamb. Mrs. Pike was born in Clay county. Illinois.
October 26, 1868. Her father was a native of Indiana and her mother of
Tennessee. They were the parents of eleven children: Martha Ann
(deceased) ; Nancy Jane, Alfred Grant, Charles A., Priscilla May, Hattie
W., Minnie, Bartlcy, Henry, George and Norah. To Mr. and Mrs.
Pike have been born nine children. Charles Harrison, born October 5,
1886; Ethel Flora, born June 21, 1888; Mary Alice, born October 11.
1889; Lydia Ella, born October 28, 1893; Rose Hattie, born March 5,
1895; Nina May. born March 25, 1897; Henry Clay, born December 12,
1900; Jennie Amanda, born April i, 1904, and Cecil Eugene, born De-
cember 9. I90f'). Mr. Pike is a Democrat, and one of the substantial
citizens of Clark county.
Elias Albert Wasser, the veteran editor of tJie Girard "Press." has
wielded the editor's i)en in the Sunflower State for nearly a half cen-
tury, and fifty-four years of his life has been spent in the newspaper
business. He is a native of the Keystone State, born in Schuylkill
countv. Pcnnsvlvania. Mav 12. 1848. His parents were Elias C. and
150 BIOGRAPHICAL
Catherine (Moser) W'asser, both natives of Penns3lvania, and of pioneer
Pennsylvania stock. The father died in his native state in the prime
of manhood, and the mother came west, making her home with the sub-
ject of this sketch until her death. The Wasser family consisted of four
children : Lucy R.. married Adam Krape, Lena, 111. ; Elias A., the sub-
ject of this review; Kate A. (deceased), and Philip H. Elias Albert
Wasser attended the public schools until thirteen years of age, and
then took a course in Penn Hall Academy, Penn Hall. Pa. He then
entered the office of the "Reporter,'' at Aaronsburg, Pa., and began the
printer's trade. This paper was published partly in English and partly
in German, andyoung \\'asser soon learned to set type as readily in one
language as in the other. He remained with that paper about three
years. He then went to Bellefonte, Pa., and worked as a journeyman
printer about two years, when he went to Oil City, Pa. This was at
the time of the great oil excitement in that section, and he worked at
his trade there until 1868, when he came to Kansas. He first located
at Crawfordsville, now an extinct town, and remained there but a few
months, when he went to Fort Scott and became a member of the
firm of Warner, Winter & ^^'asser, publishers of the Fort Scott "Press."
In 1869 he and Mr. Warner bought their partner's interest and moved
their equipment to Girard. This was just before the railroad was built
to that point, and here they founded the Girard "Press," of which Mr.
Wasser has since been editor. This was the first permanent newspaper
in Crawford county, however, there had been an issue or two of another
paper at Girard a few weeks before the "Press" was founded there.
Later Mr. A\'arner sold his interest to Mr. A. P. Riddle, who afterwards
became lieutenant governor of the state. This partnership existed for
a period of about twelve years, when Riddle sold his interest to D. C.
Flint, and eleven years later, the latter sold out to Mr. Wasser, who then
took his son, Albert M. \\'asser, into partnership, under the firm name
of Wasser & Son. This partnership continued until the death of the
son, April 30. 1912. and since that time his widow has been Mr. Wasser's
partner in the paper. The policy of the "Press" has been consistently
Republican since its founding, and Mr. Wasser has ever been an advo-
cate of the policies and princii^les of the grand old party. The entire
plant was destroyed by fire, April 14. 1871. However, the paper did not
miss an issue. Mr. Wasser is today the oldest newspaper editor in the
state of Kansas, and is still as active in the publication of his paper as
ever. His newspaper plant is well equipped, and he does a large job
printing business, as well as publishing the paper. He has perhaps the
best collection of newspaper files to be found in" any newspaper office
in the state. He has on file, and well bound, copies of every newspaper
published in Crawford county, ^^'hen the "Press'' office was destroyed
by fire, his newspaper files were in the bindery and thus escaped the
fate of the |>lant. ^Ir. Wasser was appointed postmaster of Girard by
BIOGRAPHICAL 15!
President Arthur, and served eight years under tliat ai)pointment and
was reaijpointed after a lai)se of four years, by President McKinley and
served until 1902. Mr. Wasser was united in marriage March 15, 1874,
to Miss Mary Olive Poole, and to this union were born four children :
Albert M.. who was his father's partner in business, and died April 30,
iyi2; Ida May, general deliver}- clerk in the Girard postoffice ; Claude P.,
who was killed February 24, 1913, at the age oi thirty-four, while per-
forming his duty as a member of the fire dejjartment of Oklahoma City,
Okla.. and Louise, who resides at home. Mr. Wasser is a member of
the Independent Order of Odd P'ellows and belongs to the Lutheran
church. During his career he has been a staunch supporter of the
policy of prohibition and women's suffrage, and has lived to see many
of the measul'es which he has supported with his time, talent and
mone\-. brought to a practical and successful realization.
John J. Dorsey, a substantial farmer and stockman of Clark county,
is a Kenluckian. lie was born on a farm in Larue coimty, March 20,
1848. The birthplace of Alu-aham Lincoln is only eighteen miles from
where Mr. Dorsey was born. John J. Dorsey is a .son of .Anderson J.
and Polly ( I lerrington ) Dorsey, the former a native of Washington
county. Kentucky, born March if), 181 1, of Virginia parents. He was a
])lanter all his life and owned slaves before the war. Tie died at his
Kentucky home in 1895. His wife, Polly Herrington. was a daughter
of David and Sarah Cioodman Herrington. .She was born in Harden
county. Kentucky. May 20, 1822, and died February 23, 1909. To .An-
derson J. and Polly ( i lerrington) Dorsey were born nine children: John
J., the sul)ject of this sketcli ; Charles, born Scptcm1)cr 20. 1849; Jnella,
married C. C. l-ieesor ; Mary Thomas, married Charles Dougherty; James
.\.; W'ildora. married Lloyd Bland, farmer, Sumner county, Kansas;
Julia .\.. now the widow of Jacob IViguc ; Walter W., and Magnolia,
married William Patterson. John J. Dorsey was reared to manhood i?i
his native State and educated in the ])ul)lic schools. In 1884 he came
to Kansas, driving the entire distance from Kentucky with a team and
wagon. He remained in Sumner and Kingman counties about three
years and in 1887 located on government land in Clark county, about
fi\c miles north of .\shland. In i(jo6 he bought a farm one and one-half
miles north of .Sitka, where he has since been successfully engaged in
farming and stock raising. He has a well improved farm and is one of
the i)rosperous agriculturists of the county. Mr. Dorsey is a Democrat,
and since coming to Clark county has figured conspicuously in the local
councils of his i)arty. In 1895 he was elected register of deeds of
Clark county and re-elected to succeed himself in 1897, and cajiably
held that ofiice for four years. On .August 14. 1870. Mr. Dorsey was
united in marriage to Miss Lucy, daughler of (labriel ,ind l'"lizabeth
Duvall. Mrs. Dorsey was born in llardin county, Kentucky, December
I, 1852, and they have live children, as follows: Robert .\., a sketch of
152 BIOGRAPHICAL
whom follows this article; Gabriel Duvall, born February 22, 1874;
Aldora. born January 21. 1876; Thomas Martin, born August 25. 1878,
and Ama Ilynds, born ^March 11, 1881. Mr. Dorsey is a member of the
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows and is a Presbyterian.
J. T. Leonard, president of the First National Bank, Girard, Kans., is
a prominent factor in the financial affairs of southeastern Kansas. Al-
though apparently a young man, in the prime of life, Mr. Leonard has
been identified in a commercial and financial way with Crawford county
for over forty-two years. He was born at Beardstown, Cass county,
Illinois, January 12. 1854, and is a son of E. B. and Mary R. (Miller)
Leonard, the former a native of Illinois and of pioneer Illinois parents,
who came from Bergen. X. J., and located in Illinois at an early day. in
the settlement of that state. I\Iary R. Miller, the mother, was a native
of Covington, Ky., and a descendant of old \'irginia stock. E. B. Leon-
ard was a successful business man and interested in various enterprises
during his career, in which he was uniformly successful. He removed
to Joplin, Mo., in 1876, and was successfully engaged in business there
during the remainder of his life ; his wife is also now deceased. The
Leonard family consisted of seven children, six of whom are now li\ing,
as follows: Anna, now the wife of H. P. Grund, a pioneer merchant of
Girard; J. M.. resides at Joplin; J. T., whose name introduces this
sketch ; Maria, now the wife of C. M. Spring, wholesale druggist, Joplin,
Mo. ; Lizzie, married Edward Porter, Joplin, ^lo.. and is now de-
ceased ; Arthur E.. resides at Kansas City, Mo., and Susie C, the wife of
Arthur H. W'aite, president of the Joplin Xational Bank, Joplin, Mo.
J. T. Leonard received his education in the public schools of Illinois, and
at the age of fifteen became a member of an engineer corps, as chain
man and was engaged in railroad survey work in various parts of Illiiniis
and Indiana. He was promoted to rodman and remained in this work
for two years. He resigned while his party was engaged in work at
Fort Wayne, Ind., and returned to Beardstown and engaged in work
in a merchant tailoring store, in which his father had purchased an in-
terest. In 1872 he received the appointment to the Annapolis Xaval
Academy, but was a few months past the maximum age, and was unable
to enter that institution, and in the fall of that year came to Kansas,
locating at Girard, and entered the employ of H. P. Grund, a merchant
of that place, who had been a former clerk of young Leonard's father
back in Illinois. In 1877 young Leonard became a partner in business
with Mr. Grund. .\ugust 2. 1877, when the Merchants & Farmers Bank
of Girard was organized. Mr. Leonard became cashier of that insti-
tution. However, he retained his interest in the mercantile business
with Mr-. Grund until 1878, when he engaged in the mercantile business
in partnership with George Kincaid, under the firm name of Kincaid &
BIOGRAPHICAL 1 53
Leonard. This business arrangement continued until October 6, i8Si,
when he purcliased Mr. Kincaid's interest in the business and conducted
the business in his own name for ten days, when a fire started in an ad-
joining building and destroyed his stock, causing almost a total loss,
which was only partially covered by insurance. February 9. 1882. when
the Citizens' liank was organized, Mr. Leonard became cashier of that
institution. This bank grew out of the reorganization of thi; banking
house of James H. Booth. On May 8. 1884, the Citizens' Bank was re-
organized and became the First National Bank of Girard. and is today
one of liie substantia! national banks of the state. It was organized with
a paid-up capital stock of $50,000 under national bank charter No. 3216,
and Mr. Leonard continued as cashier of this institution imtil January
I, 1913. when he became president to succeed J. E. Raymond. Since his
connection with the First National Bank Mr. Leonard has been a
dominant factor in directing the policy of that institution and the sub-
stantial growth and development of the bank is the best evidence of its
capable and conservative management. The bank has a surplus of
$40,000. and the report to the comptroller of the currency, December 31,
1914, showed deposits of $418,664.00. Mr. Leonard has vast and varied
interests in addition to his banking interests. He has invested exten-
sively in oil lands and in the zinc mining district, and his investments
have proven very profitable. He was united in marriage Sei)tember
II, 1878, at Whitby, Ontario, to Miss Anna M. Carpenter, of that place.
The\- have two children: Howard, of the Leonard-Cole Lumber Co.,
Ciirard. lie is a graduate of Kansas University, and married Cora
Moore, of Holton, Kans., and .Vlice married R. G. Thorn, secretary of
the Hanlon-Shelp Mercantile Co., Newton, Kans. Mr. Leonard is a
Democrat and all these years in Kansas has taken a keen interest in the
welfare of his party, and has frequently served as a member of the
I)emocratic county and state committees and has served as a member
of the council of Girard for a number of years. He is a Tliirty-second
degree Knights Templar Mason, and a mcmlK'r of the Shrine. The
family arc members of the Episcojjal church.
Robert A. Dorsey, a prosjierous farmer and stockman of Clark county,
is a nati\e of Kentucky, ])ut has s])enl the greater i)art of his life in
the Sunflower State. He was born in Larue co\uity, Kentucky, April i,
1872, and came to Kansas w hen twelve years old w ith his i)arents. He is
a son of John J. and Lucy .\. ( Duvall) Dorsey; ;i sketch of John J.
Dorsey precedes this article. Robert .A. Dorsey attended the public
schools of Kentucky and Kansas and obtained a good education, and for
five years was engaged in teaching in Clark county. He later engaged
in farming and stock raising in Lexington township, Clark county, where
he now has a well improved farm and ranks among the progressive
farmers and stockmen of that section. Mr. Dorsey was united in
marriage at .Ashland. Kans., November 20, 1893, to Miss Laura, daughter
154 BIOGRAPHICAL
of Henry R. and Belle (Metcalf) ^lorrison. IMrs. Dorsey is a native
of Indiana, born July 5, 1873. To Mr. and Mrs. Dorsey have been born
six children, as follows: Lillian E.. born September 20, 1894; Henry L..
born September 20. 1895; John F.. born September 20. 1896; Sybil
Gladys, born September 20, 1901 ; Sidney Bryan, born September 20,
1907. and Lula Belle. Mr. Dorsey is a Democrat, a member of the
^lasonic lodge and the family belong to the Methodist Episcopal church.
Marble Lane Baxter, Protection. Kans.. is a pioneer and early-day
schcKil teacher ni Comanche county, where he has made his home for
over thirty years. Mr. Baxter was born in Sharpsville. Ind.. November
7, 1862. He is a son of Dr. Josiah K. and Ellen (\\'alker) Baxter. Dr.
Josiah K. Baxter is also a native of the Hoosier State, born October 19.
1830. His parents were both natives of Ohio and settled in Indiana at
a very early date. Dr. Baxter is a graduate of the Louisville Medical
College, Louisville. Ky.. and DePauw Universitj . He began the practice
of medicine at Sharpsville in 1842 and during the Civil war was surgeon
in the One Hundred and Fortieth regiment. Indiana infantry. .\t the
close of the war he returned to Sharpsville and resumed the practice
of his profession, and is now living retired there at the ripe old age
of eighty-four years, and spending the sunset of his life in peace and
comfort at the close of an active and successful professional career.
Dr. Baxter was one of a family of ten boys and one girl ; all of the
boys served in the union army during the Civil war. and their names,
in the order of birth, are as follows: James (deceased) ; Dr. Josiah K. :
Daniel; O. H. P. (deceased); William (deceased); Haden; Hiram;
George ; Edward ; Alonzo. and one sister, Vanna, now the widow of
Robert Williams, ^Madison, Ind. Dr. Baxter's wife. Ellenor Walker,
was also a native of Indiana, born at \"ernon March 20. 1829, she died
at Sharpsville ^larch 20, 1912. She was a lifelong member of the
Methodist Episco]>al church and lived an exemplary Christian life. Dr.
Josiah K. and Ellenor (Walker) Baxter were the parents of nine children:
Ida. born in i8(X). now the widow of J. F. Lindsey, who died in 1910
leaving four children : Louis. Blanche, Madge and Lowie ; Marble L..
whose name introduces this sketch ; William Wallace, born December
18, 1863, retired. Protection, Kans.; Elva Walker, born in i8(56. married
L. S. Ulrich. Sharpsville, Ind., and they have one child, Mary; Fannie,
born in 1868 and died at Kokomo, Ind., in 1908; Jennie Cleo. born in 1870.
married James Thompson. .Shar])sville. Ind.. and they have one child.
Melvin,; Josiah K., born in 1872 and died at the age of sixteen, and two
children who died in infancy. Marble L. Baxter was reared on the
home farm in Indiana and received his education in the public schools
of that state. In 1885 he came to Kansas and located in Comanche
county. He took up government land in Protection township, about
three and one-half miles southwest of where the town of Protection is
now located. He taught district schools in connection with his farm-
BIOGRAPHICAL 155
ing during the first six j-ears of life in the new country. For the first
three years on the plains lie lived in a sikI house and accustomed liim-
self to the many inconveniences and hardships incident to the life of
those who formed the vanguard of the builders of any new country.
He still owns his original homestead, to which he has added a large
acreage, and now ranks as one of the successful farmers of Comanche
county. Mr. Baxter is a Re])ublican. and has taken an active part in
the political life of his township and county. He has held various town-
shij) offices and was a member of the board of county commissioners
of Comanche county for seven years, three years of which he was
chairman. He is prominent in the councils of the Republican party
and has been a delegate to count}- and state conventions a number of
times. Mr. Ha-xtcr retired from active participation in business in
1910. He has been a student all his life and is one of the best posted
men in the community. He was married at Oakford, Ind., December 21.
1883, to Miss Lillie Alay, daughter of Samuel A. and Matilda L. (Thomas)
Lowry. Mrs. I'axter was born at Oakford, Tnd., May 12. 1869. To
Mr. and Mrs. Daxter have been born six children : Xellie F.llen, born
.Ajiril 8, 1885, married Theron A. Myers, May i, 1904. and they have
one child. Lane M., born May 8, 1906; Fred L., born April 3, 1887.
married (Jertrude l]ootii l'"ebruary 8, 1907, and they have three children.
Booth. Boyd and Elenora ; Pearl Cleo, born March 17, 1893, married
John Beddinger May 7, 1910, and they have three children. Geneva and
Jenevia (twins), and John, Jr.; Louis Francis, born March 8, iS(X>, and
Earl McKinley, born Se])tember 20, 1897. Mr. liaxter is widely known
throughout southern Kansas and is one of the highlv rcsjiected and
substantial men of Comanche county. The family arc members of the
Methodist Episcopal chinxh.
Isaac Kirby Rodgers, a Kansas pioneer who is now a prominent factor
in the business affairs of Protection, Kans., is a native of the Buckeye
State. He was born in Washington count}-, Ohio, December 8, 1855,
and is a son of Lewis and Mary Ann (Teeples) Rodgers. Lewis Rodgers
was a nati\e of Pennsylvania and removed to Ohio at an earl}- age;
he was a wheelwright in early life but later followed farn-iing. He died
in Ohio in 1888. His wife, Mary Ann Teeples, was a daughter of John
and Mary (Kirby) Teeples, natives of Xew Jersey and of Quaker
stock. Isaac Kirby Rodgers was one of a family of thirteen children,
as follows: Louisa (deceased); Rebecca; Mary I-'llen (deceased); .\lvin
Tcnn}son ; Joshua Wood; TlK)mas ; i^lwood; Isaac Kirby; Lyda F. ;
John W. (deceased) ; Eva (deceased) ; Fremont Jeffer.son (deceased),
and Joseph (deceased). Mr. Rodgers, whose name introduces this re-
view, s])ent his boyhood days on his father's farm in Washington count\',
Ohio, and attended the jiublic schools, hi 1874. when nineteen vears
of age he came to Kansas and located in (ieary county. For the first
few years he li\-e(l in a dugout and broke i)rairie with ox teams. He
156 BI0GR.\PH1CAL
was one of tlie very early settlers of Geary county, where he remained
until 1890. when he removed to Comanche county and bought a 3.000
acre ranch, where he has since been successfully engaged in the slock
business and is one of the prosperous farmers and stockmen of that
section. He also has a general store at Protection and does an ex-
tensive merchantile business. On September 30, 1900, Mr. Rodgers
was united in marriage to Miss Laura M.. daughter of Chauncey Cook,
of Illinois. Mr. Rodgers is a Republican and takes a prominent part
in any movement for the betterment of his town and county.
Arthur A. Carpenter, cashier of the Farmers' State Bank of Protec-
tion. Kans.. is a prominent factor in the financial affairs of southern
Kansas. He is a native of the Sunflower State, born in Marshall county
November 21. 1878, of pioneer parents. He is a son of Hugh A. and
Martha J. (Inman) Carpenter. The father was born in Fremont county
.August 26. 1858. a son of an Iowa pioneer, George W. Carpenter, who
was one of the very earh- settlers of Fremont county. Hugh A. Car-
penter's mother died when he was six years of age, and at the early
age of fourteen he was thrown on his own resources and compelled
to make his own way in the world. He came to Kansas in 1875 and
for a few years worked as a farm laborer in Marshall county. He
bought land at an early day and has accumulated considerable property,
now being one of the substantial citizens of Marshall county. He was
married January 20. 1878, to Miss Martha Jane, daughter of Jacob and
Alatilda ( Stinson ) Inman. She was born in Missouri Xovember 14.
1862, and was brought to Kansas by her parents, who settled in Marshall
county when she was an infant. Her father was one of the prosperous
and influential farmers of that section of the State. He died in 1885
and was followed by his wife in 1890. They were devout members of
the Christian church and noted for their Christian spirit. To Hugh A.
and Martha J. (Inman) Carpenter w^ere born ten children, four of whom
died in infancy. The others are as follows : Arthur A., the subject of this
sketch : Retta \\'., born September 8. 1880. married Howard B. Heilig,
cashier of the Rozel State Bank. Rozel. Kans. ; May Vance, born July
10, 1888, married Albert J. Koelling. farmer. Harper county, and they
have one child, Verla ; George Gaylord, born October 12, 1890, farmer,
Marshall county, married Zela Fairchild and they have one child. Hugh,
born December 4. 1908; A'elma Grace, born June 24, 1892. married Albert
Hunt, farmer, Marshall count}-, and John Dewe)-, born January 29,
1899. Arthur A. Carpenter was educated in the public schools and
Marysville College, where he graduated in the class of 1899, and for
ten years followed the profession of teaching, two years of which time
he was superintendent of the public schools at Bigelow, Kans.. and
for four years held a similar position in the Bluff City schools. In 1908
he began his financial career by accepting the cashiership of the Blufi^
City State Bank and held that position four years. Through his capable
BIOGRAPHICAL 157
manaiiement of the affairs of that institution the vahie of its stock in-
creased over thirty per cent., in addition to paying the usual dividends.
In 1912 he bought a controlling interest in the Farmers" State Bank
of Protection, becoming cashier of that bank, lie is the leading spirit
in directing the affairs of that institution, which has also had a rapid
growth and development under his administration. During the two years
that he has been connected with that bank the deposits have increased
from $30,000 to over $100,000. The undivided profits amount to over
$10,000, and it is one of the substantial banks of Comanche county
and does a general banking business. Mr. Carpenter was married June
13, 1909, to Miss Maud Leona, daughter of Peter \V. and Sarah (Buis-
land) Mesmer, of Marshall county, where she was born November 8,
1878. Mrs. Carpenter is a graduate of Marysville College and taught
school nine years in Marshall, Smith and Sedgwick counties before her
marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter hold membership in the Christian
church and he is a member of the Masonic lodge.
William E. Snyder, manager of the Home Lumber & Supply Com-
pany. I'nileclion, Kans., and present mayor of that thriving town, is
one of the progressive business men of southern Kansas. Mr. Snyder
was born in Piatt county, Illinois, March 29, 1869, and is a son of Mark
V. and Hannah Mary (Winn) Snyder. The father is a native of Ohio,
born January 24. 1840. of \'irginia jjarcnts. Mark \'. Snyder is a i)ioneor
of southern Kansas. He came tt) this state in 1873 and located on
government land in Xeosho county, and took an active part in the
early development of that section of the State. He followed farming
until 1880, and was one of the pioneer promoters and early developers
of the oil interests of southern Kansas. In 1880 he engaged in the grain
business at Erie, Kans., and successfully followed that business for
a number of years. He still resides at Erie, having retired a few years
ago. His wife, Hannah Mary Winn, was a native of Ohio, btjrn in
March, 1845, of Virginia parentage. To Mark V. and Hannah Mary
(Winn) Snyder were born six children, as follows: William E., the
subject of this sketch; Charles R., born April 21, 1871, was a locomotive
engineer and was killed in an accident in Texas, April 16, 191 1, leaving
a wife and one child; Ida May, born February 20, 1873, died at the age
of two years; Oscar E., born September Ci, T876, married Stella Ouacke'n-
l)ush and now resides at Erie, Kans.; Henrietta, born March K). 1880,
married Shirley \\'right, a farmer in Xeosho county, and Mark, born
September 20. 1885, resides with his parents at Erie, Kans. William E.
Snyder came to Kansas with his parents when four years of age, in 1873 ;
he received his education in the public schools of Erie, Kans., graduating
from the high school at that place in the class of 1888. He worked in
his father's office at Erie until he was twenty-one years of age, when
he entered the emjiloy of an agricidtural implement company of Kansas
City, Mo., as traveling salesman and was engaged in that business until
158 Bior.RArnicAL
1905 when he accepted a position as manager for a lumber company at
Marquette, Kans. In 1910 he came to Protection. Kans.. as manager
for the Home Lumber & Supply Company, one of the large lumber
cnmi)anies of southern Kansas and Oklahoma, having a chain of fifteen
lumber yards in the two states. Mr. Snyder is a keen, capable business
man. and by his straightforward methods has won the confidence of the
commercial world. Since coming to Protection he has taken a promi-
nent part in public aft'airs and has been one of the most enthusiastic
boosters of his adopted city. In 1912 he was elected mayor of Protection,
and during his administration of public affairs in that office much
progress has been made by that municipality. He is a strong advocate
of public ownership of public utilities, and was one of the chief promoters
of the plan whereby the town of Protection has become the owner of
its own electric light plant and water works. Mr. Snyder was united
in marriage November 26, 1896, to Miss Aliram A., daughter of Edwin
B. and ]\Iary X. (Harland) Roll, pioneers of Kansas. They settled in
Bourbon count}- in 1868 and Mrs. Snyder was born at Hiattvillc, Kans..
March 21, 1874. To Mr. and Mrs. Snyder have been born five children,
as follows: Robert Roll, born February 7. 1900; Alton Paul, born
October 5. 1902; Edwin, born January 12, 1908; Pearl, born December
24, 1910. and Mary, born Octol^er 3. 1912. Mr. Snyder is a member of
the Masonic lodge and he and his wife huld membership in the Christian
churcli.
Claude Rowland, the po]ndar and efficient postmaster of Protection,
Kans., is a native of England, born in the city of London. February 21.
1884, of English parents. He is a son of Sidney and Carrie (Keene)
Rowland. The father was a native of London, born March 16, i860, and
the youngest of a family of twelve children, seven sons and four daugh-
ters ; three of the sons served in the British navy and are now deceased,
two having died in the service. .Sidney Rowland immigrated from the
mother country to America in 1888, locating at Mulvane, Kans., wTiere
he has since been engaged in the hotel business. His wife, Carrie
Keene, was born in Exeter, England, May 28, 1865, a daughter of
Thomas and Mary (James) Keene. To Sidney and Carrie Keene Row-
land were burn ten children, as follows: Claude, the subject of this
sketch ; I'"rank Edward, born May 22, 1886, a graduate of the Mulvane
High School class of 1904 and Kansas University, class 191 1, drug in-
spector for the State of Kansas, married Estella Adams, and resides
at Topeka ; Victor, born in 1888, died in infancy; Cecil, born in 1890,
died in infancy; Roy, born in 1892, died in infancy; Ethel, born February
12. 1888; Violet, born May 14, 1900; Gladys, born .April Ti. i8()4; Rose,
born May 28, 1896, now assistant ])ostmaster. Protection, Kans., and
Cliffie. born February 24. 1902. Claude Rowland was educated in the
public schools of Mulvane. Kans.. and has spent most of his life in the
mercantile business. He went to work in a store in Mulvane at the
BIOGRAPHICAL I59
age of seventeen, in 1904 he Ijecame commissary clerk for. a construc-
tion company, and for three years held that position. In 1907, he re-
moved to Protection, Kans.. and was salesman in a mercantile establish-
ment tiiere for six years, and on July i. 1913. he was appointed postmas-
ter of Protection by President Wilson, and has since capably filled that
responsible position. Mr. Rowland was married at Coldwater, Sep-
tember 5. 1908, to Miss Mattie. daughter of B. B. and Maggie (Bush)
Daugherty. of Cherokee, Okla. Mrs. Rowland was born at Sharon,
Kans.. and educated in the public schools and St. Rose Academy, Dan-
ville. Kans., graduating in the class of 1906. To Mr. and Mrs. Row-
land have been born four children, as follows: /Vrline. born August
17, 1909; Doris, born October 25. 191 1 ; Dornea, born September i, 1912,
and Caroline Keene, born September 14, 1914. Mr. Rowland has
taken a prominent part in public affairs since coming to Protection, and
in 1909 was elected police judge, serving one term. He is a member of
the Masonic lodge.
Robert Harvey Pine, a j^rominent Kansas pioneer, died at his home
at Protection. Kans., August 12, 1914. He was born in Westmoreland
county. Virginia. December 29, 1834, near the birthplace of Gen. Robert
E. Lee. His father. Robert Harvey Pine, was the youngest son of an
English nobleman. Robert Harvey Pine, whose name introduces this
sketch, attended the ])ublic schools of \'irginia until he was si.xteen years
old, when he removed to Wisconsin with his parents, and about ten
years later, Robert H. and his brother, Anderson, went to Iowa, locat-
ing in Page county. He was engaged in farming there until the out-
break of the Civil war, when he enlisted in Company G, Thirty-second
regiment, Wisconsin infantry. He enlisted as a private and during the
l)erio(l of his serxice was promoted to sergeant. He took part in many
important campaigns, among which was the seige at Vicksburg. He
was seriously wounded at the battle of Tupelo, Miss., from the effect
of which he never fully recovered. .After having been discharged from
the army he returned to his Towa home, where he was engaged in farm-
ing for a few years. In 1884 he came to Kansas and bought land in
Pawnee county, and was engaged in farming there and in l-ldwards
county until 1904. when he came to Comanche cotuity and bought a
(>oo-acre ranch in lUuff creek valley, where he was successfully engaged
in farming and stock raising until the time of his death. He was a life-
long Republican and was elected to local offices on numerous occasions.
He was a prominent member of the Masonic lodge, and held member-
ship in the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Pine- was twice married,
his first wife being Elmira Turk, who died in 18S4, leaving one child,
Morton Harvey, who died in 1903. ( )n .\pril 3. 1913, Mr. Pine was
united in marriage to Miss Beulah Estella, daughter of Samuel M. and
Jessie I.. (Price) Everette. Samuel M. Everette was a native of Jack-
son county, Arkansas, Ixirn .August 16, 1846. He was iirominent in
l6o BIOGRAPHICAL
the Southwest and served as sheriff of Hunt county. Texas. He died at
Ardmore. Okla.. February 23, 1899. His wife was a native of Alabama,
born on a plantation in Butler county. November 2. 1850. ol South
Carolina parents. She died February 29. 1908. Mrs. Pine is one of a
family of eight children, as follows: Sarah. Elizabeth, Effie. Ethel,
Sammie, Beulah. Lela and Alonzo. Mrs. Pine was educated in the
State Masonic Home of Texas, at F"ort Worth, where she was graduated
in the class of 1906, and for a number of years was a teacher at Gates-
ville. Texas, and Colgate, Okla. She is a member of the Presbyterian
church, and prominent in the work of the congregation. She has one
adopted child, a niece. Genevieve Blanche, born at Colgate. Okla.. Xo-
vember 2t,. 1909.
Arthur Moberg, M. D., a prominent j^hysician and surgeon of south-
eastern Kansas, who is engaged in the practice of his profession at Pitts-
burg, is a native of Illinois. Dr. Moberg was born at Eloomington.
111.. July 13. 1870. He is a son of Gustave and Anna (Seaberg) Moberg.
both natives of Sweden, and pioneer settlers of McLean county. Illinois,
wb.ere the father died in 1908 and the mother passed away in 1910. Dr.
Moberg was reared in Bloomington and received his educational
discipline in the public schools of that city. He then entered the
pharmacy department of the Northwestern University. Chicago, where
he was graduated in the class of 1890. He was employed in the capacity
of a pharmacist in a drug store at Bloomington about four years when
he determined upon a medical career for himself. He then entered the
medical department of St. Louis University, where he was graduated
in the class of 1897, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He was en-
gaged in hospital work in St. Louis during the years of 1897 ^nd 1898,
and then located at Pittsburg. Kans.. where he has since been engaged
in the practice of his profession. Dr. Moberg is a skilled surgeon and
physician. He does not specialize in any particular branch of medicine
or surgery, preferring a general line of practice. He was united in mar-
riage December 21, 1892. to Miss Ovanda M. Kays, of Bloomington.
Ills. They have two children : Jack, aged nine, and Marylois, aged two.
Dr. Moberg is a member of the County. State and American Medical
Associations and the City Hospital Medical Society of St. Louis. He
is a Knights Templar Mason and member of the Mystic Shrine.
William H. Braden, who is now serving his seventeenth consecutive
year as a member of the board of count)- commissioners, is one of the
real pioneers of southeastern Kansas, and for nearly a half a century
has been a prominent factor in the affairs of Crawford county. He has
been a part of the development of that county from an uncertain be-
ginning to the greatest industrial district of the state, now with its
mines, mills, factories and fertile and well kept farms. William H.
Braden is a native of the Buckeye State, born in Richland county. Ohio,
August 21. 1844, a son of Samuel and Susan ( Bidingcr) Braden, the
BIOGRAPHIC A[. l6l
former a native of l'enns\lvania, and the latter of (Germany. The
mother died in Ohio in 1852, and shortly after her death the family re-
mo\ed to Indiana, and settled in Xoble count}-, where the father was
en^-aj^ed in farming- and spent the remainder of his life there. Me died
in 1899. William H. Braden received a good common school education
in the district schools of those pioneer days, and was just arriving at
the age of manhood when the Civil war broke out. In October, 1862,
when he was just past eighteen, he enlisted at Ligonier. Ind., in Com-
pany B, First regiment Indiana cavalry, an independent regiment, the
volunteers furnishing their own horses. His troop was assigned to
duty in Missouri, and was at Pilot Knob and Iron Mountain. He re-
ceived his baptism of fire at Fredericktown. and his next engagement
was at Cottonplant. He then participated in numerous skirmishes as
they made their way into Arkansas. His troop was General Steele's es-
cort when Little Rock was taken. Later, at Pine Bluff, he was in the
fiercest fight of his experience, w-hen Price and Alarmaduke attacked
the Union position at that place. He also participated in the battle of
Helena, Ark., and subsequently did service in Tennessee and Mississippi.
He was honorably discharged at Duval's Bluff, Ark., in July, i'S65. He
then returned to his home in Xoble county, Indiana, where he remained
but a short time, when he went to McLean county, Illinois, and worked
as a farm laborer about two years. He was married in October. i8()8,
to Miss Wealthy Elizabeth Lott, a native of McLean county. Illinois,
and t<i this union two sons were born, Samuel Burr, now a rancher at
Mabton. Wash., and \\'illiam Orr, of Pittsburg, Kans. Mrs. Braden
died Jul}- 9, 1907. After his marriage Mr. Braden worked rented land
in McLean county about a year when, as he says, "he packed his belong-
ings in a prairie schooner, whistled for the dogs and started for Kansas."
He drove the entire distance, and was twenty-eight days enroute. He
located in Crawford township, Crawford county, where he bought rail-
road land. .At this time there was a great deal of contention between
some of the early settlers and the railroad coni]Kmies, who owned large
tracts of land in the "neutral lands," and when Mr. Braden settled on
the place which he had bought from the railroad company, the league
ordered him to leave, but up to the present time Mr. Braden has not
complied with the order. He engaged in farming and stock raising. At
that time the city of I'ittsburg had not been thought of, and Gir.-ird.
the county seat, consisted of only four or five houses. In 1874 Mr.
Braden was elected trustee of Crawford township and in 1878 was elected
sheriff of Crawford county, and served one term, when he engaged in the
livery and feed business at Girard, and in 1882 was again elected sheriff
and re-elected in 1884. In 1886, at the expiration of his terqi, he went
to Utah for the benefit of his wife's health. The family remained there
tw'o years, but Mr. Braden never relinquished his residence in Crawford
county, always returning there to vote and took an active part in the
l62 BIOGRAPHICAL
political affairs of the county. In the early part of 1889, the family
returned to Kansas and took up their residence in Pittsburg, and Mr.
Braden engaged in the livery business there, which he conducted until
August 5, 191 1. He was very successful in his business undertakings
and built the largest livery barn in Pittsburg, constructed of brick
and stone. In 1898 he was elected county commissioner of Crawford
county, and has continuoush- held that office to the present time, which
is the best evidence that any man could have of his capability and con-
scientiousness in transacting public business. He is a director of the
First Xational Bank of Pittsburg, having served on that board a
number of years. Politically he is a Republican and since locating in
Kansas has taken an active part in the organization of that party, and
has been an unceasing worker for the success of the policies and prin-
ciples of his party. He is a member of the county central committee
and has been treasurer of that organization for over twenty years, and
bears the unusual distinction of having been elected a delegate to every
Republican State convention for thirty years, or more, and the same
may be said of his attendance to the congressional conventions of his
district. Mr. Braden has served on the Pittsburg city council four
years. His fraternal affiliations are with the Ancient Free and Ac-
cepted Masons, Ancient Order of United ^^'orkmen and Knights and
Ladies of Security.
John A. Cumpton, one of the very early settlers of Comanche county,
now living retired at Protection, Kans., was born in Montgomery county,
Illinois, August 7, 1853. He is a son of Greenberry and Mary ( Evans)
Cumpton. The father was also a native of Illinois and spent his life there
engaged in farming. He died in 1879. He was twice married, his first
wife being Miss Mary Evans, to whom seven children were born as
follows: \\'illiam T.. Margaret, Sarah E., James ^\'.. Alonzo, John A.,
the subject of this sketch, and George, all of whom are deceased except
John A., the subject of this sketch. After the death of his wife and
mother of these children the father married Mrs. Lurinda Merryman,
to whom two children were born, Philena and \'ictoria. John A. Cump-
ton came to Kansas in 1884 and located on government land in \'alley
township, Comanche county, where he engaged in farming and stock
raising. He still owns his original homestead, and is one of the pros-
perous and substantial farmers of the county. He has taken an active
part in the political and material development of his county and has held
various local offices of trust. In politics he is a Socialist. Mr. Cumpton
was united in marriage June 16, 1880. to Miss Rebecca Jane Steidley,
daughter of Frederick and Mary C. (Martin) Steidley. Mrs. Cumpton
was born in Macoupin county. Illinois, May 4, i860, her parents being
natives of \'irginia and early settlers in Illinois. They had eleven
children : Joseph F., Martin C., James A.. Annie, Mary £., George D..
Rebecca J.. Rachael C, John C. Charles II.. and Minnie M. To Mr.
BIOGRAPHICAL 163
and Mrs. Cumpton have been born five children, as follows : Goldie K.,
born April 24. 1887, married R. A. Alexander in 1907 and died I-'ebruary
16, 1913, leaving two children, Rula E. and Henry A.; Jerry Peffer, born
January 28, i8gi, now a banker at Protection, Kans., married Etna H.,
daughter of Perry A. Johnston, April 22, 1914; Dora Flossie, born Feb-
ruary 25. 1894, graduated from the Protection High School in the class
of 1915; Alary S., born March 6, 1896, and the youngest, a boy, was born
October 11, 1903. died February 25, 1904. Mr. Cumpton retired from
active business life in 1912, and is now living retired after an active life
of enter]5rise and well directed energy.
John P. Curran, one of the best known and most successful attorneys
of Crawford county, is a native of Michigan. He was born at South
Haven. He is a son of John and Eliza (Judge) Curran, the ftjrmer a
native of County Down. Ireland, and the latter of Hastings. Province of
Ontario. Canada. In 1871 the Curran family, with the exception of
John P., of this review, and Hon. Andrew J., a sketch of whom appears
elsewhere in this volume, came to Kansas and located near Mulberry,
Crawford county, where the parents permanently settled. In 1875 John
P. and his brother came t<i Kansas. lie had attended school in Michigan
and was well aclvanced in an educational way, and continued his scJiool
work after coming to Kansas and later entered the Kansas Normal
College at Fort Scott, where he was graduated in the class of 1889 with
the degree of Piachelor of Arts. He then devoted himself to educational
work, and for ten years was a professional teacher, and for three years
was superintendent of public schools at Columbus, Kans. He was also
devoted to the broader field of educational work and his influence was
by no means confined to the school room. He was active in institute
work and during his educational career conducted sixteen normal in-
stitutes. He was also mindful of the future and did not cast his lot
altogether with educational work, which, unfortunately, offers too few
op])ortunities for advancement in this great country of ours. During
the time that he was teaching he also took up the study of law. and
after having qualified thoroughly, was admitted to the bar of Kansas
in 1895, when he engaged in the practice of law in partnership with
his brother at Pittsl)urg, Kans.. under the firm name of Curran & Curran.
This arrangement continued until January i. 191 1. when Andrew J. w-as
elected District Judge of the Thirty-eighth Judicial District, and since
that time John P., of this review, has been engaged in the practice of
his profession alone. Mr. Curran has been eminently successful in his
chosen jirofession and as a trial lawyer, or counselor, has few ])eers in
the State. In addition to his extensive law practice Mr. Curran takes
an active part in local ])olitical and business affairs. Politically lu' is
a Republican and has served as president of the Pittsburg school board
two terms. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and the
Crawford County Law Library Association and has been identified with
164 BIOGRAPHICAL
the electric railway project of southeast Kansas and southwest Missouri
for a number of years. He began with this company long before it
became the Joplin & Pittsburg Railway Company, having been identified
with that enterprise when they had only seven miles of trackage as
compared with the 114 miles which the company now operates. Mr.
Curran is legal adviser for a great many industrial corporations operat-
ing in Crawford county, prominent among which might be mentioned
the Clemens Coal Company, The Standard Ice and Fuel and others which
he was instrumental in organizing. Mr. Curran was united in marriage
October 16, 1890, to Miss Alice Mary, daughter of John Cook, of Cold-
water, Kans. Her father was an early settler in southwestern Kansas,
locating in that section in 1886. Mrs. Curran was born in Louisville,
Kv., and, after attending school in her native city, cempleted her educa-
tion at Cottey College. Nevada, ^lo., where she was graduated in the
class of 1899 and taught school for a time prior to her marriage. To
Mr. and Mrs. Curran has been born one child, John Halliday. a graduate
of the Pittsburg High School and later attended the Kansas State Manual
Training Normal College, the Kansas State University and Cumberland
College. Lebanon, Tenn., graduating at the latter institution. He took
the law course at Kansas University and was admitted to the Kansas
bar June 25, 1914. Mr. Curran is probably one of the best known lawyers
in southeastern Kansas, and has justly won the confidence of a large
clientage.
John M. Wayde, a leading meml:)er of the Kansas bar. has practised
law in Crawford county for a quarter of a century. He was born in
Bedford county, Pennsylvania, May 7, 1862. a son of John and Martha
(Connelly) Wayde. natives of Pennsylvania, where the father was a
merchant and farmer. John M. Wayde attended the district schools of
his native State and later entered the Central State Normal School at
Lock Haven. Pa., where he was graduated in the class of 1886. He
then taught school two years and at the same time read law under
the preceptorship of Aleck King. Esq., of Bedford. Pa. During the
summer of 1888 he took a special law course in the Indiana University,
Valparaiso, Ind.. and in the fall of that year entered the senior law
class of Kansas University, graduating in 1889 with the degree of
Bachelor of Laws. He then was admitted to the Kansas bar and located
at LeRoy, Kans., where he was engaged in the practice of his profession
until 1890 when he came to Pittsburg, where he has since been actively
engaged in his profession. Mr. Wayde has an extensive practice and is
recognized as one of the capable lawyers of southeastern Kansas. Aluch
of his practice in recent years has been devoted to important litigation
which has reached the higher courts, and he has had many cases in
the supreme court of Kansas, and has frequently appeared in the
United States Supreme Court. Mr. Wayde is a Republican and has
taken an active and conspicuous part in both local and State politics.
BIOGRAPHICAL 165
having served as a member of the Republican County Central Committee,
and has been a delegate to numerous county and State conventions. In
1902 he was elected county attorney of Crawford county and re-elected
to that office in 1904, and his two terms in that responsible position
were marked by capable and conscientious law enforcement. Mr. W'ayde
was united in marriage September 5, 1894, to Miss Margaret Pettigrew,
a native of Pennsylvania, where she was reared and educated, and
taught school for a number of years prior to her marriage. Mrs. \\'ayde
dejiarted this life .August 25, 1906, leaving one child, Hugh Donald, who
is now a student in the State Manual Training School, Pittsburg, Kans.
Mr. Wayde is a member of the Crawford County and State Bar Associa-
tions, and is a Thirty-second degree Mason and a member of the
Bene\olent and Protective Order of Elks.
J. Luther Taylor, president of the Pittsburg Mortgage Investment
Company, is a prominent factor in the financial and commercial affairs
of Crawford county. He is a native of the Sunflower State, born in
Crawford county, July 24, 1872. His parents. Joseph I. and Mary S.
(Miller) Taylor, were natives of Kentucky and pioneers of Crawford
county, Kansas. The Taylor family came to Kansas in 1870, driving
the entire distance from Kentucky in a prairie schooner, a tedious trip
that required thirty days. The father settled on a claim in Lincoln
townshi]) and proceeded to make a home for the family, and this property
is still in their possession. Here J. Luther Taylor was born and his
early life was spent amidst these surroundings. He attended the district
school and in the fall of 1888 entered the preparatory department of
Baker University, and after s])cnding three years in the preparatory
department, entered the University proper, where he was graduated in
the class of 1895 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. At the fiftieth
anniversary of the University the degree of Master of Arts was con-
ferred u])on him. After completing his course in llaker L'niversity he
entered the Xorthwestern Law School, Chicago, lUinnis, and was grad-
uated in 1878 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He then engaged in
the practice of his i)rofession at Pittsburg, Kans. lie had a large
clientage, which was more on the financial side of the practice of a
loan and investment nature, and, finding that this line of work was taking
the larger part of his time, he finally drifted into that line of practice
exclusively, and in 1903 organized the Pittsburg Mortgage Investment
Company, which was the reorganization of The Taylor-Wheeler & Co.,
a partnership which was succeeded by the cori)oration. The first officers
of the Pittsburg Mortgage Investment Comp.iny were Joseph I. Taylor,
president; F. P,. Collins, vice-president, and j. Luther Taylor, secretary
and treasurer. In 1910, at the death of Joseph I. TayK)r, J. Luther
Taylor succeeded to the presidency. This comjjany has had a rapid
and substantial growth since its organization, their capital stock is
$90,000, paid up. During the last ten years preceding January, 1914,
l66 BIOGRAPHICAL
their deposits for investment for the months of Janiiar}' alone have grown
from $31,937-15 to $220,123.4(5. They are the financial correspondents
for the Aetna Life Insurance Company, of Hartford, Conn., for
the State of Kansas and have loaned several million dollars on im-
proved farms without the loss of a single dollar of principal or interest.
Thev have clients in twenty-five ditiferent states, and their stock of
loans is seldom less than $100,000. Their loans are personally selected
and therefore safe and conservative. \\'hile the mortgage investment
business practically occupies all of Mr. Taylor's time, he is interested
in many other local enterprises of importance. He is a director of the
First Xational Bank of Pittsburg and was one of the organizers of The
Home Heat, Light & Power Company. Mr. Taylor was united in mar-
riage November 2, 189S, to Miss Ethel, daughter of J. M. and Mary
(Swallow) Cavaness, the former a native of North Carolina and the
latter of Texas. J. M. Cavaness came to Kansas in the early 6o's and
attended Baker University, being the first graduate of that institution.
He was a pioneer newspaper man of Kansas, being editor of the Chetopa
'"Advance" for a number of years, and later removed to Chanute and
bought the Chanute Tribune, and now resides in that city. Mrs. Taylor
was born in Labette county and after attending the public schools of
Chetopa, entered Baker University, where she was graduated in the
class of 1897 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts and taught school at
Chetopa for a year prior to her marriage. To ]Mr. and Mrs. Taylor
have been born four children: Joseph, died in infancy; John Irven, Mary
Elizabeth and Katherine, all students at the Manual Training Normal
Model School, Pittsburg. ^Ir. and Mrs. Taylor are members of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is President of the Board of
Trustees and was Chairman of the Building Committee during the
construction of the magnificent Methodist Episcopal Church of Pittsburg.
Mr. Taylor is a liberal contributor to the church and church work and is
a member of tiie (jeneral Committee of the Methodist Church and has
been a delegate to several General Conferences. He is also prominent
in the work of the Young Men's Christian Association and has been
President of that thriving organization since it was founded in Pittsburg.
He is also a member of the State Board of the Young Men's Christian
Association of Kansas. He is a Trustee of Baker University and of
Bethany Hospital. Politically he is a Republican.
John Moore, now deceased, was a Kansas pioneer and Civil war
veteran and was one of the first four settlers composing the vanguard
of the hardy pioneers who took up their homes in Comanche county
in the early eighties. He was born in Belmont county, Ohio, June 2.
1840, and was a son of Aser and Sarah ( Dawson) Moore. He was
one of a family of seven children, as follows: Lucinda, Mary. Jolin,
Moses, Sarah. Luman and Lydia Ann, only two of whom are now
living, Moses and Luman. John Moore spent his boyhood days on the
BIOGUAI'lIICAL 167
Ohio farm and lived the peaceful life of the average farm boy until
the Civil war broke out, when, in answer to the President's first call
for volunteers, he enlisted in Company A, Fifty-third regiment, Ohio
infantry, and at the expiration of his term of service re-enlisted, and
served until the close of the war, four years in all. He had an active
military career and took part in many important battles, weary marches
and tiresome vigils, but fortunateh- thrcnighout his long military career
he escajied without a scar of war. .Vt the close of the war he returned
to Ohio, where he remained until 1876 when he came to Kansas and en-
gaged in farming in Llourbon county, remaining there three years; he
then went to Sumner county, where he was similarly engaged five
years. In 1883 he went to Comanche county; this was sometime before
the county was organized, and he was one of the first to take u]) gov-
ernment land in that section. He located on the place which now
adjoins the town of Protection on the south and that property still be-
longs to his heirs. He was active and prominent in the organization
of Comanche county and likewise a promoter of the town of Protection.
He was a lifelong Republican, but never pushed himself forward for
pdliiical preferment. He was a modest, unassuming man and preferred
to a\oid publicity. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Re-
public but belonged to no other lodges. He was united in marriage
August 16, 1866, to j\Iiss Isabelle Victoria, daughter of James A. and
Mary A. (Uanks) Miller, the former a native of Ohio born in 182 1, and
died in 191 2, and the latter a native of Maryland born in 1821, and died
in 1900. Mrs. Moore was born Sei)tember 3, 1847 '" Perry county, Ohio,
and was one of a family of six children, as follows : Isabelle Victoria,
Mar}' Catherine, Leah Rebecca, Samuel F., William Banks and Cornelia
Ann, all lixing except Leah Rebecca and Cornelia Ann. To Mr. and
Mrs. Moore were born six children: Charles Warfield, born July 10,
1808; Clara Eva. born March 7. 1871; Liilie Ma_\'. born September 2.
1874, died Xovemljer 19, 1910; Sarah .Ann, Ixnn l-'ebruary 14, 187'); 1 lomer
Eugene, born Xovember 16, 1881, in I'.durlxin cnunly, Kansas, and Edgar
Francis, born in Sumner county, Kansas, June 10, 1883. John Moore
died at his home in Protection October 26. 1894. and his wife, an esti-
mable vvdinan. nnw resides at Prulectinn. where she is well knnwn and
has many friend^.
Hugh W. Vance, nnw deceased, was a Kansas ])i(ineer and an honnred
citizen whcj took a ])ruminent jjart in the earl}' development of Comanche
county. To such men as Hugh W. \'ance Kansas owes the beginning
of its greatness. He was born on a farm in Roane county, Tennessee,
December zj. 1838; his ])arents were Hugh and Rachel ( lilair) Vance,
natives of Tennessee. They were theparents of the following children:
John. William, James. Lucinda, Hannah and Hugh, all of whom are now
deceased except William, wiio resides at Las .\nimas, Colo. Hugh W.
\'ance received his education in the |inblic schools of '{"ennessee, ;ni(l
l68 BIOGRAPHICAL
in 1857. when nineteen years of age, removed with his mother and the
other members of the family, except the father who died in Tennessee,
to Decatur county, Iowa, where the mother died March 10, 1874. Here
the young man followed farming until 1885 when he came to Kansas,
locating on government land in Comanche county, near Protection.
Here he followed farming and stock raising and added a large acreage
to his original homestead, and become one of the prosperous and suc-
cessful citizens of Comanche county. He was a Democrat and took
a keen interest in public affairs, cooperating with every movement for
the development and betterment of the community, but never aspired
to hold political office. He preferred to be a good citizen rather than
an office holder. On September 9, 1867, he was united in marriage at
Knoxville, Iowa, to Miss Xancy Emeline, daughter of Jacob and Eliza-
beth (Fronk) Xoftsger. Mrs. \'ance was born at Knoxville, Iowa,
July 15, 1848, and educated in the public schools of that town. Her
parents were pioneers of Iowa, and among the very first settlers in the
vicinity of Knoxville. To Mr. and Mrs. Vance were born nine children,
as follows: Rachael Elizabeth, born March 17, i86q. married Chester \\'.
Hungerford, farmer. Alfalfa county. Oklahoma; Mary Margaret married
Perry A. Johnston, a sketch of whom appears in this volume; \\'illiam
Beda, born May 13. 1874, farmer. Alfalfa county, Oklahoma; James
Lloj-d, born March 9. 1881. farmer. P.eaver cotmty. Oklahoma; Frank
Edvvin and Fred Irwin (twins), born January 21. 1885. the former
residing at Protection and the latter at \\'ilmore. Kans. Since the death
of her husband Mrs. Vance has sold the home ranch and now resides
at Protection. She is a public spirited woman and takes an active
interest in the public affairs of her home town and current events. She
is a member of the Baptist church and prominent in the work of that
deniimination.
Squire Hazen Lackey, now deceased, was a successful farmer and
stockman of southwestern Kansas and one of the substantial citizens
of Clark county. He was a native of Pennsylvania, born in Crawford
county December 22. 1847, ^ son of Isaac and Emeline (Ball) Lackey,
also natives of the Keystone State. Isaac Lackey was born in Craw-
ford county and was a son of William and Mary (Hazen) Lackey. He
followed farming all his life in Pennsylvania and died in Mercer county,
that State, June 19, 1893. His wife. Emeline Ball, was a daughter of
William and Jane (Bishop) Ball, natives of England. She was born
in 1835 and died ]\Iay 13. 1874. Isaac and Emeline (Ball) Lackey were
the parents of ten children, as follows: Squire Hazen, the subject of
this sketch ; Alary Jane (deceased) ; Penrose (deceased) ; Miranda, .Alvira,
Jerome, Charles, Katherine, Esther and Hiram. Squire Hazen Lackey
received a good academic education and in early life was engaged as
a contractor, getting out railroad timber in his native State, and suc-
cessfully followed that business until 1887, when he came to Kansas
BIOGRAPHICAL 169
and Ixiufj^ht several tliousand acres of land seven miles west of Ashland
in Clark county, ha\ing at one time under fence over 15,000 acres. He
engaged in the cattle business and was one of the successful cattle
men of the Southwest. He took a prominent part in the public affairs
of the coimty and was a prominent Republican, but did not seek political
honors. In i8q6 his party nominated him for sheriff' of Clark county
without his consent and against his wish, but he declined to make the
race. He was a member of the Baptist church and a liberal contributor
to the cause of Christianity. He died at Ashland December 11, 1897,
and thus closed the career of an acti\e and useful citizen of Clark
county. Mr. Lackey was married Xovemljer 6, 1873, in Mercer county,
Pennsylvania, to Miss Rebecca .\nn, daughter of Lewis and Margaret
(Reiley) Lindsey, a native of Mercer county, Pennsylvania, born Oc-
tober 16, 1852. Her parents were also natives of Pennsylvania and
descendants of i)ioneer Pennsylvania stock. The father was born in
^[ercer ctninty May i, 1808, and in early life was engaged in the
lumber business, and later followed farming and was a breeder of
blooded stock. He died in Mercer county, Penns3'lvania, February 22,
i8<)0. His wife was also born in Mercer county, January 7, 1810, and
died February 15, 1877. The\' were married June 10. 1834. and ten
children were born to this union: John, born March 17, 1835, and died
at Camp Convalescent, near Ale.xandria, Va., December 6, 1862, while
ser\'ing with the Sixty-first regiment, Pennsylvania infantry, in tlie
Civil war; William, born .\ugust 16, 1836, died May 20, 1899; Flizabeth,
born .-Xugust 22. 1838. died October 24, 1853; Louisa, born August 18,
1840; Ellen, born August 5, 1842, died October 23. 1913; Louis and
Margaret (twins), born October r, 1844, died in infancy; Xancy, born
May 16, 1847; IVFelissa. Ixirn Xo\ember 26, 1849. and Rebecca .Ann, now
the widow of Sciuire Hazen Lackey whose name intrnduces this sketch.
To Mr. and Mrs. Lackey were born four children, as follows: llarmie,
born September 2, 1874, died Xovember 20, 1899; Lena Blanche, born
December 24, 1878, married W. B. Crimes, Clark county; Audlcy \'ance,
born August 29, 1883, and the youngest child was a son who died in
infancy. Mrs. Lackey is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church
and takes a prominent part in th? church work of her Imme town. She
resides at Ashland, where she is well known and ])ri luu'iienl in the
commimity.
Carl Oscar Pingry, a well known Crawford county attorney and
veteran of the Si)anisli-.\merican war, is a native of Indiana. He was
born in Jay county, September 23, 1876, and is a son of Rev. Thomas
and Amanda (Short) Pingry. The father is a Methodist minister, hav-
ing de\()ted his life to that calling and is still acti\e in the ministry, now
being located in Oklahoma. When Carl Oscar, of this review, was less
than a year did, the family remo^•ed to Missouri, where the father was
engaged in the ministry fi)r a number of years. In 1888 he came to
170 BIOGRAPHICAL
Kansas, and for a time was located at Tialdwin and later at Osawatomie.
Carl Oscar Pingry attended the public schools at the various places
where the family was located, and while at Baldwin attended Baker
University Academy for three years, and later graduated in the
Osawatomie High School, in the class of 1895. He then taught school
in Miami county two years, when he came to Crawford county as prin-
cipal of the Midway school. When the Spanish-American war broke
out, he enlisted in April. 1898. in Company D, Twentieth Kansas regi-
ment, and served with that famous organization under General Funston
in the I^hilippine Islands. During his term of service he participated
in twenty-six battles and was mustered out with his regiment in 1899,
having attained the rank of quarter master sergeant. He then entered
Central College, Fa3ette, Mo., where he was a student for one year,
when he went to Colorado, and in the fall of 1901 returned to Crawford
county, where he was engaged in institute work for a time and later
taught school. He was principal of the Litchfield schools for two years
and of the Chicopee schools for one year, and in 1904 entered the law
department of Kansas University, where he completed the regularly
prescribed three j-ears' course in two years, graduating in the class of
1906, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. \\'hile in college he took a
prominent part in athletics, and was a member of the University
Athletic Board. After graduating from the university he was admitted
to the Kansas State bar, and engaged in the jsractice of his profession at
Pittsburg, Kans., in partnership witli J. M. \\'a\de, under the firm
name of \\'ayde & Pingry. This partnershij) arrangement continued
about one year, and since that time Mr. Pingry has been engaged in the
practice alone. In April, 1913, he was appointed city attorney of Pitts-
burg, and is serving in that capacity at the present time. Mr. Pingry
is a Republican and takes an active part in politics. He has been secre-
tary of the Republican County Central Committee, and is at present a
member of the county and city committees. He was united in mar-
riage July 25, 1905, to Miss Maud Ingleman, of Lawrence, Kans. Mrs.
Pingry was educated in the public schools of W'averly, Mo., the high
school at Lawrence, Kans., and Kansas University. They have one
child, Carl Oscar, Jr., a student in the Pittsburg public schools. I\Ir.
Pingrj' is prominent in Masonic lodge circles, and is also a member of
the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Knights and Ladies of
Security, Fraternal Order of Eagles, Loyal Order of Moose, Acacia Fra-
ternity, and the Phi Delta Phi.
Charles S. Denison, a prominent attorney of Pittsburg, Kans., is
a native of the Sunflower State. He was born at Osage Mission, near
St. Paul, Kans.. August 28, 1879, and is a son of J. L. and Martha (Huag-
land ) Denison. His father was a pioneer attorney of Kansas, who came
to this State from Pennsylvania in 1859, during the territorial days of
Kansas. He was a capable lawyer and practiced his profession in
moGRAPHICAL 171
Neosho county until liis death. 1 le was i)riiminent in ])cilitics, and served
as county clerk, clerk of the district court and county attorney of
Neosho county. IJe died at Erie. Kans.. Aujjust 14. 1908, and his widow
still survives. Charles S. Deni.son, of this review, was educated in the
public schools of Neosho county and graduated from the l'>ie Ilit^h
School in the class of 1897. Jie read law under the preceptorship of his
father, and in December, 1902, was admitted to the bar of Kansas and
began the practice of his profession in his home tnwn, I'.ric. lie was
successful in the ]iractice from the start and soon his clientage included
a number of imjiortant corporations, including' a nimiber of oil anrl
railroad companies. He continued the practice of his profession in Eri-,
imtil September 7, 1907, when he removed to I'ittsburg, Kans., where
he continues to enjoy a large and important law practice. His offices
are located in the Commerce building, and are among the best equipped
of Crawford county. He is a member of the Crawford County and
State Bar Associations. Mr. Denison is a close student of the law. and
a recognized attorney of high standing.
Lewis H. Phillips, a prominent attorney of southeastern Kansas, en-
gaged in the practice at Pittsburg, is a native of the liuckeye State. Ho
was born at V'iscent, Athens county, Ohio, May 10, 1867, and is a son 3f
George N. and Sarah E. (Crewson) Phillips, both natives of Ohio. The
mother died when the subject of this review was but two years of age,
and the following j'ear the father removed to Kansas, locating at Girard.
where he was engaged in the hotel business. In 1874 Lewis H. went
to live with an aunt, who resided in Ohio. He began his educational
career there, attending the public schools until 1880, when he returned
to his father's home at Girard, Kans., where he attended high school
In 1885 he received the appointment as postal clerk in the railway mail
service, and for four years was engaged in that cai)acity. lie then en-
tered the office of Judge Arthur Fuller, as a law student, and on July
6, 1891, passed the bar examination, and was admitted to the practice
of law before the supreme coiun of Kansas and was associated with
E. W. Arnold, at Girard, Kans., in the ])ractice of his profession about
two years. He then entered Georget<iwn University, Washington.
D. C, where he completed the law course in 1894, and was graduated
with the degree of Master of Laws. He then returned to Girard, where
he was engaged in the j^ractice of his ])rcifession, and was a member of
the firm of Ryan & Phillips until 1908. In January, 191,3, he removed
to Pittsburg, and since that time his law offices have been located in
the Commerce building. Mr. Phillips not only has an extensive law
])ractice, but has been an active and dominant factttr in the electric rail-
way business. He conceived the great future possibilities of electric
transportation in southeastern Kansas, and promoted the Girard Coal
P.elt Electric Railway, and through his efforts every dollar of the capital
of that enterprise was raised. This road ran from Girard to Crowberg
172 BIOGRAPHICAL
and Dunkirk, and now forms a part of the Pittsburg & Joplin Electric
Railway System. Mr. Phillips was secretary and general manager of
the original company, and after that company was absorbed by its suc-
cessor, he continued as general manager of that division for nearly two
years. In former days he was prominent in the Democratic ranks, both
in State and local politics, but in more recent years his political affilia-
tions have been with the Socialistic party. Mr. Phillips has been twice
married, his first marriage occurred ^larch 31, 18S6, to ]Miss Sylvia M.,
daughter of \\'. A. and Jennie Gaylord, of Girard, Kans. She was a
native of Illinois, but reared in Ivansas. where her parents located when
she was a child. She received her education in the convent at Osage
Mission, Kans. Mrs. Phillii)s died July 6, 1898, leaving one child, Xeola
\\'., who was educated in the Girard High School and the State Manual
College, Pittsburg, Kans., and is now the wife of W. C. Allen. Pitts-
burg, Kans. On ^lay i, 1901, Mr. Phillips- was united in marriage to
Miss X'ictoria O., daughter of Judge J. G. Dorman, of Henry county,
Missouri. Mrs. Phillips was born in Henry county, Missouri, and edu-
cated in the public schools and Baird College, Clinton, Mo. Mr. and
Mrs. Phillips have two children, Udolphia S. and Katherin L., both
students at the Manual Training Normal College, Pittsburg, Kans.
The family are members of the Christian church, and Mr. Phillips is a
member of the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order
of Elks. cTud the County and State Ear Associations.
Frederick B. Wheeler, a prominent member of the Crawford county
bar, was born in Arnoldsville, Buchanan county, Mo., August 20, 1869.
He is a son of Philip LeRoy and Mary A. (Powers) \\'heeler, the former
a native of Connecticut and the latter of Xew York. The father was
a farmer and after leaving his native State resided for a time in Xew
York and from there went to Illinois, where he was engaged in farm-
ing near Galesburg, and later removed to Missouri, In 1880 the family
removed to Kansas, locating at Axtell, Marshall county. Frederick
B. Wheeler received his education in the public school and was graduated
from the Axtell High School in the class of 1887, He then entered
Kansas University at Lawrence, and after pursuing the regular course
two years, entered the law department, where he was graduated in
the class of 1893 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. After being
admitted to the Kansas bar he went to Pittsburg and engaged in the
practice of his profession, where he has since devoted himself to his
professional work. Mr. \\'heeler is recognized as a lawyer of unusual
ability and is regarded as one of the leaders of his profession in south-
eastern Kansas. He is a Republican and a prominent figure in local
politics. In 1898 he was elected to legislature from Crawford county,
and re-elected in 1905, serving with distinction in that body. He is a
member of the Pittsburg Commercial Club and has served as president
of that organization. Mr. \\'heeler was married December 26, 1896, to
BIOGRAlMIICAr. I73
Miss Mabel, dau<;;hter of Judge J. P. Raiincy, of Miami couiily. Mrs.
Wheeler was born at Paola, Kans., and graduated in liie high school
at that place; she then attended Kansas University and the State Manual
Normal Training School, getting her A. V>. degree. To Mr. and Mrs.
\\'heeler have been born five children : Mary Cecil, James Ranney,
Frederick Gaskell, Philip LeRoy and William Xewton. Mr. Wheeler
is a member of the State and County Bar Associations and is a Thirty-
second degree Mason. He is also a member of the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks and the Knights and Ladies of Security. The
family are members nf the Christian Science church.
Patrick J. McGinley, the well known and jjoinilar cashier of the
Frontenac State I5ank of Frontenac, Kans., has the unique distinction
of being born an American citizen in a foreign land. Pie was born at
Killybegs, Ireland, (October 14, 1870, while his mother was temporarily
residing in that country. Mr. McGinley is a son of Patrick C. and .\nn
(Brady) McGinley. both natives of Ireland. They immigrated to America
and located in Cleveland, Ohio, where they resided a number of years
before Patrick J., the subject of this sketch, was born. Later they re-
moved to Kansas, located at Chetopa and afterwards went to Oklahoma,
where the father died in 1897, and the mother departed this life in igii.
Patrick J. McGinley spent most of his boyhood days at Chetopa, where
he attended the public schools and engaged in his first business venture
while a mere boy, his vocation consisting in what was known as running
a town herd. We next find him clerking in a grocery store for a short
time when he entered a railroad office at Chetopa and learned telegraphy,
and twenty years of his life was spent in the railroad business in the'
emjiloy of the Missouri, Kansas & Te.xas railroad and the Missouri-
Pacific Railroad Company. During this time he served as telegraph
operator and railroad agent at various places on the line of these roads.
In 1903 he engaged in the mercantile business at Norman, Okla., and
for five years conducted a successful and profitable business there, until
in 1908, when he accepted the cashicrship of the Frontenac State Bank,
and since that time has been engaged in that capacity. This is the
only bank in the thriving town of Frontenac, and was organized in
1904 with a paid-u]) capital stock of $10,000, which was increased to
$15,000 in 1914. The present officers are Jams S. Patton, president;
Patrick J. McGinley, cashier, and Jacob Hitman, vice-jiresident, all of
whnm reside at Frontenac. The bank owns its own building, a sub-
stantial two-story brick structure. They do a general banking business,
have a large patronage and the bank has had a steady and substantial
growth in the volume of business since its organization, and is one of
the substantial financial institutions of Crawford connty. Mr. Mc-
Ginley was married October iS, 1898, to Aliss Fmma F. Pomi)cney, of
Olathe, Kans. Mrs. McGinley is a sister of Father T'nnijieney, of
Pittsburg, Kans. To Mr. and Mrs. McGinley have been born five
174 BIOGRAPHICAL
children: Joseph, a student at St. Mary's College, St. Marjs, Kans. ;
Anne, Zita, Felicia and Francis. Politically Mr. McGinley is a staunch
supporter of the policies and principles of the Democratic party. He
has taken a prominent part in the local affairs of his party, and stands
high in its councils in the State. He has served for three years on the
school board of Frontenac and while a resident of Labette county was
his party's nominee for the office of register of deeds, but was defeated
on account of the minority position held by his party in that county.
In 1914 Mr. McGinley received the Democratic nomination for Congress
in the Third Kansas district, and, after an honorable campaign on his
part, bore the standard of his party to honorable defeat in the district,
normally overwhelmingly Republican. He received more votes than
any previous Democratic candidate for Congress in that district. The
result of this campaign is no discredit to Mr. McGinley under the con-
ditions. During his business career in Crawford county he has won
many friends, and his capability, honesty and integrity entitle him to a
place among the leading citizens of the Sunflower State.
John R. Lindburg, president of the First Xational Bank of Pittsburg,
Kans., has been connected with the growth and development of the
commercial and financial affairs of this city since its beginning. When
he settled here in 1877 Pittsburg was a mere hamlet with forty-two
inhabitants and since that time he has been an energetic worker and a
dominant factor in the development of industrial southeastern Kansas,
and by his hearty cooperation in the remarkable growth and upbuilding
of Pittsburg has made himself an influential personality in the com-
munitv, and is recognized as one of its foremost citizens. John R.
Lindburg was born at Wimmerby, Sweden, Xcivember 22, 1849, ^^'^
is a son of S. P. and Sophia (Munson) Lindburg. His father was
superintendent of a large estate in the old county, but later immigrated
to America and located at Red Oak, Iowa. John R. was educated in the
public schools of his native land and graduated at Wimmerby College,
after which he clerked in a store for a short time and in 1868, when
nineteen vears of age. immigrated to .\merica, locating in Chicago, where
he worked at odd jobs for three months, and was engaged in the
mercantile business for a short time, when he went to Geneseo, 111.,
where he worked in a general store for a time. He then went to Cam-
bridge, 111., and engaged in the mercantile business as a member of
the firm of Randall, Alfred & Lindburg. In 1876 he severed his connec-
tion with that concern and went to Red Oak, Iowa, where his parents then
resided. Here he remained with his ])arents for a time and clerked in
a store, and in 1877 started out in search of a location and came to
Pittsburg. His selection of this locality was not accidental or haphazard.
He had studied the maps of the government geological survey which
showed the little hamlet of forty-two inhabitants, now the great com-
mercial city of Pittsburg, was practical!}- in the center of a great field
BIOGRAPHICAL I75
of rich coal deposits, and ]\Ir. Lindbiirtj figured thai that meant future
industrial development for that section, and time has proven that he
was correct. Me had studied pharmacy in his nati\e land and determined
to engage in the drug business, and accordingly formed a partnership
with J. W. Stryker, and they opened a drug store under the firm name
of Lindburg & Stryker,' and also handled a line of books, stationery and
drug supplies. Twe years later Mr. Lindburg purchased his partner's
interest and conducted the business until iS8(i, when he became one of
the organizers of the First National Bink of Pittsburg. Since that
time he has been a dominant factor in directing the policy of that
institution. The bank was organized with a paid-u]3 ca])ital stock of
$50,000 and at its organization T. J. Hale became president. John R.
Lindburg vice-president and C. 1'. Hale cashier. In January, 1907, the
capital was increased to $100,000. In 1887 Air. Lindburg became presi-
dent of the bank and has held that important position to the present
time. On assuming the responsibility of this important position he
devoted all his energies to making The First National Rank the
great financial factor which it is in southeastern Kansas today. He has
been an active working president of that institution since the day of
his election, always on the job and his genial temperament and pleasant
maimer in the treatment of his associates and the general public have
been important elements in the institution's success. The First National
liank has had a remarkable growth, and is one of the strongest banking
institutions in the country, and has shown capable and conservative
management since its organization, and is one of the banks that has
always weathered every financial flurry without a tremor. In 1907, when
most of the banks throughout the country withheld their de])osits and
did business with clearing house certificates, there was not a time but
what the First National I>ank paid every dollar that their depositors
demanded and did not resort to the use of clearing house checks. This
was also true of the other banks of Pittsburg, and this city has the
unusual record of never having had a bank failure. .\ comparison of
the first statement of this bank to the comi)tn)ller of currency made
with the last one shows, in striking figures, the remarkable development
of the business of this institutitm. The first statement, under date of
.\ugust 27. 1886. showed deposits amounting to .$24,708.62. with re-
sources of $86,459.70. The statement made at the close of business.
March 4. 1914, showed deposits amounting to $1,104,358.10 with resources
amounting to $1,404,722.60. Mr. Lindburg is active in many other
financial and commercial projects outside of the legitimate field of
banking, lie was one of the organizers of the Pittsburg Uuilding,
Savings & Loan Association and has been president of that institution
for thirty years. He was also one of the organizers of the Pittsburg
Investment Company, and has held the position of president since its
organizaticjn, fifteen years ago. He is a director in the Home. Light &
176 niCGRAPHICAL
Power Company and was one of the organizers of that company. He
was one of the organizers of the Kansas Bankers' Association and for
a time was treasurer of that organization, and in 191 1 served as its
president. He is a member of the American National Bankers' Asso-
ciation and was a member of the executive council of that organization.
He was a member of the first city council of Pittsburg and served as
city treasurer. He was also a member of the first school board of the
citv of Pittslnirgh. He was one of the organizers of the Pittsburg
Commercial Club, which is now known as the Chamber of Commerce,
and has served as president of that organization several terms, and is
• at present chairman of the finance committee. Mr. Lindburg is a
Mason and a member of the Shrine, and was instrumental in establishing
the Masonic lodge at Pittsburg. He is a member of the Knights and
Ladies of Security, the Fraternal Aid and a charter member of the
Fraternal and Benevolent Order of Elks. Air. Lindburg was united
in marriage July 6. 1S74, to Miss Emma J., daughter of Allen and Eliza
(Whitman) ^'aughan, and to this union have been born three children:
Lotta married Capt. \\'. ]. ^^'atson. a personal sketch of whom appears
elsewhere in this volume; Roll, druggist, Pittsburg, Kans. ; John R.. Jr.
married Madge Swearenger, Arkansas City. Kans., and is engaged in
the hardware business at Forsyth, Mont.
Louis Kumm, a pioneer merchant of Pittsburg and an active factor in
the commercial development of southeastern Kansas, is a native of
Illinois. He was born at Bellville, IMarch 9, 1841. and is a son of
Jacob and Mary (Kinsel) Kumm, natives of Germany. The father was
a cabinet maker and immigrated to America about 1838. The family
settled at Bellville, 111., where they remained about three years, when
they removed to St. Louis, Mo., where the father worked at his trade
until his death, June. 1848. He died of cholera, and his wife passed away
about the same time with that dread malady, thus Louis Kumm was
left an orphan at seven years of age. He went to live with an uncle
in St. Louis, attended school, and in early life learned the watchmaker's
trade, and in 1861 located at Sedalia, Mo., wliere he engaged in the
jewelry business. Here he remained until the fall of 1883 when he
came to Kansas, locating at Pittsburg, and engaged in the jewelrj'
business. Pittsburg was then only a small village of about r,200 popu-
lation, and Mr. Kumm remained actively in business there until 1914,
when he retired. He has taken an active part in the uiilniilding of his
adopted cTty and Has not only made a reputation as a successful business
man. but. also, has done his part in a public way in the development
of Pittsburg and its institutions. Politically Mr. Kumm affiliates with
the Democratic party, and has always taken a keen interest in political
affairs. AA'hile a resident of Sedalia, Mo., he served as mayor of that
town and was also a member of the city council several terms, but
after coming to Pittsburg the political complexion of that section was
^ Cfff.i ■ /f
7
'f/fU/t.
\
t
4
BIOGRAPHICAL 1/7
s(i decidedly Republican tiiat there was small chance of a Democrat
being elected to office ; however, he permitted his name to be used as a
candidate for office a few times in order to fill out the party ticket and
assist in maintaining the organization, but in April. 1913. at a time
when the more non-partisan view was entertained in municipal aflfairs.
Mr. Kunim was elected commissioner of finance of the city of Pitts-
burg under its new commission form of government, and is now serv-
ing in that capacity, and Pittsliurg is getting the benefit of his sound
business judgment and capability in administering the affairs of that
important office. Mr. Kiimm is ever ready to lend his assistance to any
enterprise tending to a greater Pittsburg. When the Masonic Temple
-Association was organized for the purpose of erecting the temple at
Pittsburg lie was elected president of that organization, and was one
(if the most active in bringing that enterprise to a successful culmina-
tion, lie was active in the building of the First Presbyterian Church
and one of the liberal contributors to that movement. He was one of
the organizers of that denomination in Pittsburg and has served as its
treasurer over twenty years. Mr. Kumm was united in marriage Xo-
vember 28, 1865, to Miss Rosalie \Mrginia, daughter of Robert and Eliza-
beth (Palmer) Brent, natives of \'irginia but later residents of Boonville,
Mo., where the father was engaged in the publishing business until his
death. Mrs. Kumm was born at Roonville, Mo., and educated in the
public schools and Kem])er's College. To Mr. and Mrs. Kumm were
born eight children : Clara, married Arthur K. Lanyon. cashier of the
National Bank of Pittsburg. Kans. ; Lewis (deceased); Charles (de-
ceased); I'hilip (deceased) was killed in a railroad accident at Mobile.
Ala., while on his way to enlist in the United States navy during the
Spanish-American war; Rosalia \'irginia married W. S, Newcomer, Cedar
Ra])ids, Iowa; Harry lirent, a jicrsonal sketch of whom appears in this
\dlume; IClizabeth P.rent, married Raymond I'rook Larter. Cedar Rapids.
Iowa, and one child died in infancy. The wife and mother of these
children dejiarted this life September 6, 1904.
C. Hitz, a C'i\il war veteran and ])ioneer miller and grain man of
Tiirard. Kans., is a native of .Switzerland, lie \v;is born January 22,
1844. and attended the public schools of his native land until eleven
years of age, when he immigrated to America, alone, aiid located in
Madis<m county, Illinois. This was in 1855, and he worked on a farm
there until 1858 when he came to Kansas, locating in Johnson county,
where he was also emi)loyed on a farm until i8()i. when he went to
Madison, Wis., remaining there until .\pril 2. 1862. when he enlisted in
the Twelfth Wisconsin battery, light artillery. His battery was at-
tached to the .Xrmy of the Tetuiessee and jiarticipated in the siege at
N'icksburg and the battles of hika. Corinth. Chatt.inooga, and was with
.Sherman on his memorable march to the sea, and took part in tiie battle
of .Savannah. Mr. Hitz was discharged at Raleigh, N. C., .\|)ril 2. 1805.
178 BIOGRAPHICAL
He served just three years in the army, nearly all of which time he was
on active dutv at the front, and he bears the unusual distinction of never
being absent from roll call during these three long weary years. At the
close of the war he returned to Madison, Wis., where he remained about
six months. He then took a commercial course at the Eastman Business
College. Chicago, 111., and after graduating from that institution returned
to Madison and accepted a position as bookkeeper in a mercantile es-
tablishment, and remained there until 1869. He then returned to
Kansas, this time locating in ^liami count}', and engaged in the milling
business in partnership with a cousin, John Tontz. Theirs was one of
the first .grist mills in that section of the country, and was located on
Rull creek, near Hillsboro. They remained there until December, 1870.
when they came to Girard, and built a mill, which was the first flour mill
in Girard, and the first one in Crawford county, with the exception of a
small mill that had been operated at Cato a short time previously. The
Tontz and Hitz mill was located about two blocks north of his present
plant, and was of the old style burr stone type, which was the only
process known to the milling world at that time. The partnership be-
tween Messrs. Hitz and Tontz continued until 1880, when Mr. Hitz
bought his partner's interest, and has since operated alone. In 1882 he
built a new mill, and installed the roller process, but also retained the
old-fashioned process for a time, or until the roller process passed the
experimental stage. His mill is now equipped with all modern methods
for manufacturing flour, and has a daily capacity of about a hundred
barrels. Among the popular brands of flour manufactured by Mr. Hitz,
the "Big H" and the "City Bell" are. perhaps, the best known. He has
customers in nearly every State in the Union, but ships more flour to
Arkansas than to any other State. In the fall of 1914 he shipped a car
load of flour to Belgium. In addition to his extensive milling business,
Mr. Hitz is also one of the pioneer grain buyers and elevator men and,
perhaps, does the largest grain business in the county. Mr. Hitz's in-
dustrial activity has by no means been limited to the milling and grain
business. \\'hen the Girard Foundrj' was organized he became one of
the original stock holders and later he and John Tontz, a brother of
Mr. Tontz, from Illinois, bought the foundry from the other stockholders,
and in 1900 Mr. Hitz became the sole owner of that enterprise, which
he has since operated, and his son, C. A. Hitz. now has the management
of that department of his business. They are extensive manufacturers
of stoves and employ from ten to fifteen men in the foundry. Mr. Hitz
was married at Madison, Wis., in 1868, to Miss Marj- Flint, a native
of that place, and to this union two children were born : Minnie, mar-
ried Fred H. Brown, Los .\ngeles, Cal.. and Mary, resides at home.
The wife and mother died in February, 1879, and Air. Hitz married for
his second wife. Miss Ellen Wells, of Madison, Wis., and to this union
was born one child, C. A., who is manager of his father's foundry at
BIOGRAPHICAL 1/9
Girard. He was educated in the public schools of Girard and St. Jdhn's
Military College, and married Anna Sullivan, of Girard. Mr. Ilitz is
the oldest miller in the State of Kansas, in point of time engaged in
that business within the State. He is one of those pioneers wIki has
largely contributed to the development of the grain business of the
State, and has seen Kansas develop from an unbroken plain to the great
agricultural empire of the West, and while Mr. Hitz has contributed His
share to the industrial development of the State. Kansas has been liberal
t(i him. In addition to his vast and varied industrial interest, he owns
a large amount of private property in Cjirard. ami is one of the sub-
stantial business men of southeastern Kansas. .Mr. ilitz is a Republican
and has ever taken a commendable interest in public affairs. However,
he has never aspired to hold political office, altiiougli he served as
mayor of Girard from 1897 to 1903.
Clinton R. Shiffler. — .Vlthough one of the younger nicinl>ers of the
Crawford count}- l)ar. Mr. .Shiffler has won a high place in his profession.
He is a native of Crawford county, born l-'ebruary i6, 1885. and is a son
of Samuel and Florence (Stahl) Shiffler, the former a native of Lebanon,
Pa., and the latter of Rockford, Mich. The father came to Kan.sas at an
early day. and was a successful farmer and stock raiser. He is now
living retired at Girard. Clinton R. Shiffler received his early educa-
tional discipline in the i)ublic schools, and was graduated from the
Girard High School in the class of 1903, and later entered the State Nor-
mal School at Emi^oria. where he was graduated in the class of 1908.
In the meantime he was i)rincipal oi the schools at McCune, Kans., one
term, and held a similar position a like period at .\twood, Kans. After
completing his college work at Emporia he became superintendent of
the public schools at Alamogorda, N. Mex. He held that i)osition
one year and during that time he organized a comi)any of Xew Mexico
National Guards, and became cajjtain of that organization. His work
as a military organizer and disciplinarian received the highest commen-
dation of (jovernor George Curry, of New Mexico. It will be remem-
bered in this connection that Governor Curry is more than ordinary
authoritv on that subject, ha\ing served as captain in the Rough Rider
regiment during the Spanish-. \merican war. In 1909, Mr. Shiffler re-
turned to Kansas and entered the law department of Kansas University,
and com|)lcted the three years' course in two years, graduating with
the class of 191 1, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. While at the
university he kept up his military work, and in 1910 was made recruit-
ing officer by Governor Stubbs, and organized the First Provisional
company. First Infantry, National Guard of Kansas, .iiid was elected
captain of that coni|ian>'. This company was unique, in that it was the
first comi)any in the United Slates consisting entirely of university men.
His military work here was the subject of hearty endorsement and
strong commendation by Gov. Stubbs. .\fter completing his law course
I (So BIOGRAPHICAL
Mr. Shiffler accepted the superintendency of the cilv schools at Glendire.
Mont., serving in that capacity one year. He then returned to Kansas
and after passing the bar examination, was admitted to practice in
June. 1912, and immediately came to Pittsburg, where he has since been
successfully engaged in the practice of his profession. Mr. Shiffler was
united in marriage August 27. 1913. to Miss Avery L. Oliver, daughter
of Ed. L. and Mattie (Booth) Oliver, natives of Tennessee, and the
father is now a furniture and music dealer at Alamogorda, X. Mex.
Mrs. Shiffler was born and reared in Lexington. Ky.. and was grad-
uated from the High School there, and later entered the Baptist College.
Alamogorda. X. Mex. She specialized in music and possesses unusual
talent in that art. to which she has devoted a great deal of study. She
graduated in 1912 from ^Mendelssohn Conservatorio of Music, Chihuahua.
Mexico. She was music director of the New Mexico Baptist College
and the city schools of Alamogorda. X. Mex., and now conducts a studio
in Pittsburg. Kans., and teaches the piano, violin and mandolin ; also
courses in Harmony and Music Theory. Mr. and Mrs. Shiffler are
members of the Church of Christ. Mrs. Shiffler's mother. ?klrs. Oliver,
was a music director in three large schools of the South, having taught
music for twenty years. She was a graduate from the University at
Lexington. Ky. Her father, Ed. L. Oliver, is a graduate from Hender-
son College, Henderson, Tenn., is now located in Xew Mexico, having
the largest business of its kind in that State.
Adam B. Keller, the popular county attorney of Crawford county.
Kansas, is a native of Missouri. He was born in Benton county. March
16. 1880. and is a son of S. C. and Mary C. (Ellis') Keller, the former a
native of West Virginia and the latter of Missouri. Adam B. Keller
received his preliminary education in the district schools of his native
State, and later entered Columbia Xormal Academy. Columbia. Mo.,
where he was graduated in the class of 1903. He then attended the
University of Missouri one year, when he entered the Kansas City School
of Law, where he was graduated in the class of 1907, with the degree
of Bachelor of Law. He immediately engaged in the practice of his
I)rofession at Pittsburg. Kans.. and soon built up an important law
])ractice. In 191 1, he became associated with George R. Malcolm, under
the firm name of Keller & ]\Ialcolm. which is recognized as one of the
leading law firms of Crawford county. Mr. Kellar is a Republican, and
since his residence in Crawford county took an active part in politics.
In 1912 he received the nomination of his party for county attorney.
and was elected to that office at the succeeding election. His conduct
of the affairs of that office was such that he was re-elected in 1914 by
a very satisfactory majority. Mr. Keller has established a record as a
conscientious and able prosecuting attorney, and at all times stands
for law enforcement, without fear or favor, and those who are familiar
with the conditions in Crawford county, and especially in the enforce-
BIOGRAPHICAL l8l
mcnt of ihe proliihition laws, can fully appreciate the conditions that
constantly confront the one officer of the county who is charged with
the constant enforcement of the law. Mr. Kellar has done this in a
way that has met with the unanimous approval of the substantial citizens
of the county which was evinced by his return to office after one of the
hardest fought ]jolitical battles in southeastern Kansas. He is a Mason
and holds membership in the Fort Scott Consistory and Mirza Shrine
at Pittsburg.
George R. Malcolm, one oi the best known young attorneys of Craw-
ford county, is a native of Illinois. He was born in Springfield, June 27,
1884, and is a son of Robert and Lillie (Reilly) Malcolm, the former a
native of Canada, and the latter of Illinois. The father was engaged
in the mercantile business until his death, which occurred in 1S88. and
the mother passed away two years later, and thus George K. Malcolm
was left an orphan at the early age of six years. The year following
his mother's death, he came to Anderson county. Kansas, to live with
an uncle who resided on a farm there. Here the boy attended the dis-
trict schools, and in 1897-8 attended school at Nashville, Mo. He then
attended business college at Pittsburg. Kans., where he mastered the
art of stenograjihy, after which he attended the State Manual Training
Xormal College for three years, lie then entered the law department of
Kansas University, at Lawrence, where he completed the course in two
years and in 191 1 was admitted to the bar of Kansas. He then entered in-
to a partnershijj with Adam B. Keller under the firm name of Keller &
Malcolm, Pittsburg. Kans. They have a large clientage and rank among
the leading law firms of the county. Mr. Malcolm is a York Rite
Mason, and a member of the Shrine. He also holds membershi]) in the
Pienevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
James W. Montee, of C.irard. is one of the widely known men of af-
f;iirs of snuthe.istcrn Kansas, lie was born in McDonough county,
Illinois. .Ma_\' 23, 1874, and is a son of iMuuk M. and Mary V.. (Purdum)
Montee. In 1875, when James W. was less than one year old, the
family removed to Kansas, locating in Crawford county, where the
father has since been successful engaged in farming and stock raising,
and has been prominent in public affairs, having served as treasurer of
Crawford county for two terms, and also two terms as coimty commis-
sioner. The Montee family consists of thirteen children, all of whom
are living. James W. Montee began his educational career in the dis-
trict schools of Crawford county, and later attended the Kansas Normal
College, at Fort Scott, Kansas. He then read medicine under the precep-
torship of Dr. J. I!, (iardener, of Cirard. and in i8()4, engaged in the
drug business at (iirard, imdcr the firm name of J. \\'. Montee & Co.
The business later became Montee i1- I-'razier, and is now conducted by
Montee Bros. They have one of the leading drug stores of Crawford
county, and enjoy a large patronage. While Mr. Montee has been sue-
l82 BIOGRAPHICAL
cessful in a business way, he has also been active in public affairs of
his county and State. He is a Republican, and has been prominent in the
affairs of his party. In 1904 he was elected representative from the
Twentieth District, and represented his constituents in such an able
and satisfactory manner that he was re-elected in 1906. During- the
period of his membership of the lower house, he was an active and
conspicuous figure in much of the important legislation. He introduced
the bill providing that express companies be taxed and also the good
roads bill, which received much favorable comment throughout the coun-
try at that time. He led the movement and introduced the bill creating
the Thirty-eighth Judicial District, which made Crawford county a
separate district. He was a member of the committee on railroads, and
the committee on mines and mining, and State institutions, and was
chairman of the committee on fees and salaries. He has been a member
of the Republican State Executive Committee, and has been a delegate
to numerous county. State and congressional conventions, being a mem-
ber of the congressional committee that gave Hon. P. P. Campbell his
first nomination for Congress. Mr. Montee was married January 31,
1899, to Miss Letetia S., daughter of John Kennedy, of Illinois. Mrs.
Montee was born in Morgan county, Illinois, and was a child when
her parents removed to Chanute, Kans. She was educated in the public
schools and in the Wichita High School. To Mr. and Mrs. Montee has
been born one child, Sarah Frances, a student in the Girard public
schools. Mr. Montee is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons, Knights of Pythias and Modern Woodman of America. Mrs.
Montee and daughter are members of the Presbyterian church, and
she is active in club and church work.
Thomas P. Waskey, secretary of the Pittsburg Building, Saving &
Loan Association, is a Kansas pioneer and has spent thirty-five years
of his life in the commercial activity of Crawford county. He was born
at Keasauqua, Iowa, September 29, 1847, and is a son of Alex and Nancy
(Purdom) Waskey, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of
North Carolina. The father practically spent his life in the mercantile
business, and for a number of years, in the early days, was located a:
\\'estport. Mo., which is now included within the limits of Kansas
City. He died in 1879. Thomas P. Waskey remained at home and
assisted his father with the business until 1868. when he came to Kansas
and engaged in the general mercantile business at Oswego. He re-
mained there until 1880 when he came to Pittsburg, then a small village
of aliout 400 ])opulation. He opened a general store at Litchiield, a
mining camp in that vicinity, where he conducted a business for three
years. He then engaged in the grocery business in Pittsburg. Five
years later he disposed of that business and opened a general store at
Frontenac. now a suburb of Pittsburg, but continued to make his home
in Pittsburg. He successfully conducted that business for ten years,
BIOGRAPHICAL 183
when he. with others, organized the Pittsburg Wholesale Grocery Com-
l)any. and became the secretarj^ and treasurer of that com])any, and
was thus engaged about two years, when he organized the Waskey
Commission Company, and about the same time became interested in
the manufacture of brick and tile, being one of the organizers of the
Pittsburg Brick & Tile Company, lie later disposed of his interests in
those companies and on February i, 1904, became secretary of the Pitts-
burg Building. Saving & Loan Association. This is one of the most
substantial institutions of the kind in the State, and was organized in
March, 1883, with an authorized capital of a million dollars. Its first
officers were O. T. Boaz, president ; S. W. Baxter, secretary ; and the
])resent officers are John R. Lindburg, president; F. C. Werner, treasurer;
T. P. \\'askey, secretary, and C. A. Miller, vice-president. This company
has had a rapid and substantial growth from the day that it began
business, and has always been under a capable and conservative business
management. The total amount of their loans has reached the high
water mark of $325,000.00. and it is one of tJie important institutions of
Pittsburg. Mr. Waskey is interested in other commercial enterprises,
although the building and loan business practically occupies all his time.
He is secretary and treasurer of the Pittsburg & .Arkansas Zinc &
Mining Company, and takes an active part in promoting industrial
Pittsburg. He is a member of the Commercial Club and has served as
president, secretary and treasurer of that organization. He is prominent
in Masonic lodge circles and is a member of the Benevolent and Pro-
tective Order of Elks. He was unite3 in marriage in March, 1874, to
Miss Nellie Hosley. of Oswego, Kans. To this union have been born
two children : Carl O., of El Paso, Texas., and Joe A., salesman for the
Pittsburg Wholesale Cirocery Comijany. Mr. \\'askey is perhaps one of
the best known men of Crawford county and his affable manner and
genial disposition have won many friends.
Dr. Charles F. Montee, M. D., a leading physician of Pittsburg. Kans.,
is a nati\e cf IlliuMis. lie was born at McComb. McDoniiugh county,
July 15, 1870, and is a son of Frank M. and Mary E. (Purdum) Montee,
the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Illinois. In 1874 the family
came to Kansas, locating on a farm in Crawford county, where the fatlier
has since been engaged in farming and stock raising. Tie has taken an
active part in public aft'airs and has served as county treasurer four
years and county commissioner three years. Dr. Montee was four years
of age when the family removed to Kansas. He received his early edu-
cation in the i)ublic schools of Crawford county and later attended tJic
Kansas Normal College, Fort Scott, Kans. Tie also took a business
course in Spalding's Commercial College at Kansas City, Mo., and
shortly afterwards entered the State University of Ohio at Ada. Ohio,
where he took the course in pharmacy, graduating in the class of igoo
with the degree of Ph. D. He then returned to Kansas and engaged in
184 BIOGRAPHICAL
the drug business at Cherokee, and after remaining there a year he
entered Basnes Medical College, St. Louis, AIo., where he was graduated
in the class of i(;o3 with the degree of M. D. During the last two }ears
of his medical course at Barnes College he held the chair of pharmacy
and materia medica, and was also assistant professor of chemistry.
\\'hile in St. Louis he was also a staiT physician and surgeon at Centenary
Hospital. After receiving his degree in medicine he returned to his
native county in Illinois and engaged in the practice of his profession.
remaining there until 1910, when he came to Pittsburg, Kans., which has
since been the field of his professional activities. Dr. ^Montee is a skilled
physician and surgeon and has built up a large practice. He was staff
physician at the Samaritan Sanitarium of Pittsburg until that institution
was closed. He is now health commissioner of the city of Pittsljurg.
^^'hile practising in Illinois he was a member of the Tri-State Medical
Society and served as vice-president t^f that organization. He is now a
memljer of the County, State and American Medical Associations and
also holds membership in the Ancient Free and .Accepted Masons, Inde-
pendent Order of Odd Fellows and Modern \\oodmen of America. Dr.
Montee has been twice married. On Xovember 18, 1897, to Miss Ina,
daughter of David and Maria (Foster) Scott, of McDonoiigh county,
Illinois. To this union were born two children: Isabelle. died in infancv.
and J. Kenneth, now a student in the Pittsburg schools. Mrs. Montee
died in February, 1910. and on April 30, 191 1, Dr. Montee was united
in marriage to Miss Eva, daughter of W. H. and Ida ( Hammond)
Willey, of Crawford county, Kansas, and now residents of Mulberry.
Mrs. Montee was born in Crawford county and was a sucessful teacher
for a number of years in the city schools of Galena and Pittsburg prior to
her marriage. Dr. and Mrs. Montee are members of the Presbvterian
church and she is a memljer of the Eastern Star.
Edwin Lee Hepler, postmaster of W'infield, Kans., is a native of
Indiana, but has been a resident of the Sunflower State since he was
three years old, and for a number of years has been an active factor in
the industrial and political life of Cowley county. He was born at
Washington, Ind., August i, 1876, and is a son of Samuel J. and Sarah
A. (Hunt) Hepler. The father was born at Greensboro, X. C, Septem-
ber "6, 1841, of German and English parentage. They were large
planters and slave holders in North Carolina prior to the Civil war.
Samuel J. Hepler was one of a family of six children, as follows: Robert
E.. died on the old homestead in 1912; Samuel J.. Frank E., Cvnthia.
Tryphena and Margretta. all of whom are living, excepting Samuel T-
and Robert E. Samuel J. Hepler was reared on the Xorth Carolina
plantation and educated by a private tutor, as was the custom of the
better class in the South in those days. When the war broke out he
organized a company and entered the Confederate service as captain.
He served three years and participated in many important engagements.
BIOGRAPHICAL 185
and was severely wounded at the l)atilc uf Antietam, wlu-re lie received
five gunshot wounds, and his left arm was so badly shattered that im-
mediate amputation was necessary. There being no available surgeon,
Ca])tain lie^)ler assisted in amputating his own arm, a feat that seems
almost superhuman, but it was characteristic of the man, whose courage
always rose to the occasion. In iSC)/ he came to Ivansas and located at
Emporia, where he remained two years, when he removed to Xeodesha,
and after spending four years there, he went to Indiana, locating at
\\ashington, and shortly afterwards was elected sheriff of Davies county
and held that office f<nir years. In 1S79 he returned to Kansas and
located at W'infield. engaging in the hotel business and later operated
a transfer line. In 1884 he became district manager for the Consolidated
Oil Tank Line Company, with offices at W'infield. This cumiKiny was
absorbed by the Standard Oil Company in 1S90, and he continued in the
same capacity fur that company until his death, which occurred at
r.altimore, Md., August 25. 1903. He was a member of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, being one of the charter members of Winfield
Lodge, .\'o. loi. He was a member of the Methodist F.])iscopal cluuch.
.Samuel J. ilepler and Sarah A. Hunt were married at Thomasville.
X, C, September 6, 1866, She is a nali\e of Thomasville, born .Septem-
ber 19, 1844, a daughter of r.artlctt X. Ilunt. a native of Scotland. She
now resides at W'infield, Kan. To .Samuel J. and Sarah A. (Hunt)
Hejiler were born nine children, as follows: W'illa. horn July 16, i8r)7.
now the widow of William 15. I-'iles, Pass Christian, Miss.; Margaret.
born March i, iSCk,;, died August 7, 1870; Freddie and Mollie, twins,
born May 29. 187 1. the former died January 17, 1872, and the latter
October 3, 1872; Knland L., born March 4, 1873, now resides at Kewanec.
111.: Maud L.. bi)rn .March 16. 1875. miw a trained nurse, Pass Christian.
Miss.; Edwin Lee, the sulijcct of this sketch; Walter 15., born June 5,
1878, resides in Wichita, Kans.. and Charles David, born March T7, 1883.
resides at W'infield, Kans. lulwin Lee ile])ler came to W'infield, Kans..
with his parents in 1879, and received his education in the i)ul)lic schools
and St. John's Cf)llege. In 1897 he became manager for the W'infield
branch of the Standard Oil Company, and served in that capacity until
January I. 191 5, when he resigned to accept the iiostmastershiii of W'in-
field, to wdiich he was appointed October 21, i<)i4. .Mr. Ilepler w'as
united in marriage at W'infield, Kans., Jinie 12, i()o8, to Miss Lena
Mildred, daughter of Casper and lona .Atlanta (Myers) Gardner, the
former a native of Indiana, born .\ugust 28, 1843, and the mother was
born in I'lrown county. Kansas, .\ngust 23, 1854, and was the first white
child hcirn in Pirown countv. Mrs. Hepler was burn ;it lliawatha, Kans..
SeiUember 29, 1882, and educated in the Hiawatha High School and
Kansas I'niversity. 'I'o Mr. and Mrs. Ilepler have been liorn three
children: f-'na Laurel, born June 17. 11)09; Clarina .\deen, born October
31. 191 1, and -Anita Faye, born September 2(), uju. Mr. Hejilcr is a
l86 BIOGRAPHICAL
Democrat and has taken an active part in local political affairs. He has
served as chairman of the County Democratic Central Committee. He
is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Oscar Weimar Schaeffer, cashier of the State Bank of Girard, Girard,
Kans.. has been identified with this institution since 1870, and is one of
the best known men in financial circles in southeastern Kansas. Mr.
Schaeffer was born at Lisbon, Linn county. Iowa, February 17, i860, and
is a son of Josiah and Nancy B. (Weimar) Schaeffer. natives of Hol-
land and descendants of the old Sa.xe-\\'eimars of that country. The
parents first located in Pennsylvania, after coming to America and then
lived in Xew York for a time, when they came west, locating at Lisbon.
Linn county, Iowa. The father was a minister, and also a newspaper
man. He conducted a newspaper at Lisbon, where he was also pastor
of the Congregationalist church, from there he removed to Sharon, \\'is.,
where he published the Sharon "Gazette." and about 1867 removed to
\\'hitehall, Mich., where he published the Whitehall "Forum" and was
also pastor of a church there. His ne.xt move was to Kansas, locating
at Coffeyville. where he published the Coffeyville "Journal," which was
one of the pioneer newspapers of southern Kansas. In 1870. he removed
to Girard. where he was pastor of the First Presbyterian church.
Shortly after that he was called to Ohio, on accoimt of the illness of
his father, and never returned to the \\'est, permanently, after that, but
was connected with some prominent churches in the Eastern cities, and
was well known throughout the country as one of the prominent minis-
ters of his time. He was associated with Moody and Sankey, the cele-
brated evangelists for a time. He was a close friend and associate of
Dr. T. De\\'itt Talmage. and on several occasions preached in the
Brooklyn Tabernacle. Doctor Talmage's church. For a time he was
pastor of the .-^nn Carmicheal Memorial Church. Philadelphia. Pa. He
took a prominent part in educational, as well as religious and literary
work, and was financial commissioner of the Elmira Female College,
Elmira. X. Y. This was one of the first women's colleges in the country.
He died at Rochester. X. Y., in 1890. His wife preceded hiin in death
several years, she having passed away at Sharon. Wis., in 1867. They
were the parents of five children, as follows : Maggie, the wife of L. M.
]Mares. Curtis, Xeb. ; Benjamin K., Curtis, Xeb. ; C. L., Xew York City ;
Oscar W., the subject of this sketch, and Irving, who was drowned in
White Bay, near \\'hitehall. Mich. Oscar W. Schaeffer was educated
in the public schools of Sharon. Wis., and also attended school at Cof-
feyville. after the family came to Kansas. He also assisted his father
in his newspaper work until 1870, when they came to Girard. He was
then employed as clerk in the store of Mr. Seabury for a time, when
he made his start in his banking career. He was employed as a clerk
in the bankins: house of Frank Plavter, and although this institution
BIOGRAPHICAL 187
has changed hands a number of times, Mr. Schacffer has remained
steadily in the employ of the ])ank, and for the last thirty-five years has
held the position of cashier. The State Bank of Girard is the oldest
banking institution in Crawford county, having been established in
1870, and was conducted as a private bank until 1905, when it was in-
corporated under the Ijanking laws of Kansas. It has a paid-up cap-
ital stock of $50,000 and a surplus of $19,000, and is one of the sub-
stantial and well conducted banking institutions in southeastern Kansas.
In addition to his interest in banking Air. Schaeffer is an extensi\c land
owner in Crawford county, lie is a member of the Knights of Pythias,
Uniform Rank; Independent Order of Red Men, Benevolent and Pro-
tective Order of Elks, Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Anti-Horse Thief
Association. Girard Business Men's Club, American Piankers' Associa-
tion and the Kansas State Bankers' Association. During his long and
successful career as a banker, Mr. Schaeffer has made a wide acquaint-
ance and many friends, and by his straightforward business methods has
won the confidence of the financial and commercial world.
Edwin V. Lanyon, ]:resident of the Xational I'ank of Pittsburg, is
a dominant factor in the financial and industrial world, and belongs to
a family who have figured conspicuously in the industrial development
of southeastern Kansas for the last quarter of a century. Edwin V.
Lanyon is a native of Wisconsin. He was born at Mineral Point De-
cember 14, 1863, and is a son of Josiah and Jane (Trevorrow) Lanyon,
the former a native of Mineral Point and of English descent and the
latter a native of England. The father came to Pittsburg, Kans.. in
1S82. and was interested in the smelter develo])ment of that section, but
later returned to Mineral Point. Wis. Edwin \'. Lanyon received
his education in the public schools of Mineral Point, and in 1882 came to
Pittsburg with his father, where they built a zinc smelter which they
operated until 1897, which was o])erated under the firm name of \V. & J.
Lanyon. They also built a large smelter at lola. A number of members
of the Lanyon families were interested in these gigantic smelting proj-
ects, and thousands of dollars were involved. The Tola plant was oper-
ated under the name of Robert Lanyon & Sons Smelting Company, as
was also the LaHari)e ])lant, and these institutions were later absorbed
by the Lanyon Zinc Company. In the spring of 1899 Edwin V. Lanyon,
of this review, became sui)erintendent of the Lanyon Zinc Company's
smelters at lola and LaHarpe, and remainc<l in that capacity until 1902,
when he went to Xeodesha and. in partnership with his brother. Deli is,
and William Lanyon, Jr., built a zinc smelter which they operate<l about
a year, when it was sold to the Grady M. I't 1. Co., of St. Louis, then
he returned to Pitt.sburg, Kans., and became president of the Xational
Bank of Pittsburg, with which he had been associated as director for
a number of years I)efore. This is one of the substantial banking institu-
tions of southeastern Kansas, and manv of the best business men of
l88 BIOGRAPHICAL
that section have been interested in it for years. \\'hile Air. Lanyon
S:;i\-es the Ijanking interest the greater amount of his attention, he is
still interested in a number of important industrial projects. In 1906 he,
with his brother. Deles, and associates, organized the Lanyon Star
Smelting Company at Bartlesville, Okla., and constructed a large plant
at that place, which they still operate. He was one of the organizers
of the Pittsburg Zinc Company which purchased a plant in Pittsburg
in 1907, which they still operate, and of which company he is president.
In 1905 he, with other interests, organized the Home Light,
Heat and Power Company, of which he was president; later that com-
])any was absorbed by an eastern syndicate. Besides his banking in-
terests in Pittsburg he is interested in the Mulberry State Bank, of which
he is vice-president. Besides his vast private industrial interests Mr.
Lanyon has found time to devote to the public welfare, and is public
spirited and is ever ready to support any public enterprise tending to a
greater Pittsburg. He has served as mayor of Pittsburg one term, and
is an active member of the Chamber of Commerce. He has been vice-
president of the Commercial Club and is vice-president of the Carnegie
Library Board. He is a Knights Templar Mason and a member of the
Shrine, and belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen, Benevo-
lent and Protective Order of Elks, Modern Woodmen of America and
the Fraternal Aid. Mr. Lanyon was united in marriage November i-j,
i8Sq, to Miss Lydia, daughter of T. L. and Caroline (Neff) Scott, of
Pittsburg, Kans., where her father is a contractor and builder. ]\Irs.
Lanyon was Ixirn in Missouri and came to Kansas with her parents
when a child. She was educated in the public schools and taught for
a time in the Pittsburg city schools. To Mr. and Mrs. Lanyon have been
born three children : Marjorie married T. G. Hill and resides at Pittsburg;
Ldwina was a student at Dana Hall. Wellesley, Mass., and Dorothy
a student at Monticello Seminary, Monticello, 111. Mrs. Lanyon and
(laughters are members of the Presbyterian church.
Noah E. Miller, — In the death of Noah E. Miller, which occurred May
22, 1910, Comanche county lost one of its most enterprising and valued
citizens. Mr. Miller was a native of Holmes county, Ohio, born July
29, i860. He was a son of Eli and Mary (Mast) Miller, natives of Ohio.
Noah E. Miller was reared on a farm in Ohio, educated in the public
schools of that State, and in 1890, came to Kansas, locating in McPherson
county. He followed farming there until 1896, when he removed to
Rent) county, where he bought considerable land and was engaged in
farming on an extensive scale for a few years. He then spent a number
of years in Oklahoma and Texas, and in 1907 bought 2,000 acres in
Valley township, Comanche county situated in one of the richest parts
of Comanche county, known as Collar Flats. He built commodious and
substantial farm buildings and added all modern improvements unfil
he had one of the finest places in the county and was successfully en-
BIOGR.M'HKAL 189
gaged in farming and stock raising until the time of liis death.
Mr. Miller was an active and influential citizen and a life long RejMibli-
can, but never desired to hold public office. He was a mem])cr of the
Mennonite church and one of the organizers of that denomination in
Comanche county. Mr. Miller was married January 12, 1882. to Miss
Sophronia, daughter of William and ^lartha ((lonser) Hummel, natives
of Ohio. Mrs. Miller was born October 2. 1861. To Mr. and Mrs.
Miller have been born fourteen children, as follows: Ursula, born
November 5. 1882; Elias, born March 5. 18S4; Alfred, born October 4,
1885: Lewis, born June 30. 1887; David, born May 2, 1889; Howard,
born March 22. i8gi ; Baldwin Forest, born May 4, 1893; X. Tucson,
born April i, 1895; Mary Martha, born January 6, 1897; Xora May. born
December 17. 1898; Billie Dennis, born April 28. 1901; Levi .\braham,
born March 17, 1903, and Christina Rebecca and Harold Roosevelt,
twins, born August 12. 1905. The Miller family are well known in
'."omanche county, and prominent in the communit}'.
William Henry Knecht, who. for over thirty years, has been ideniiticd
with the dcvclcipnicnt of soutiiwcstcrn Kansas, is a native of Ohio. He
was born in Mahoning county, near the l)irth])lace of the late ['resident
McKinley. December 6, 1859. He is a son of Stejihen and Diana
(Kaescher) Knecht. The father was born in Xorthamjjton county.
Pennsylvania. March 3, i!^30. of Pennsylvania parents, who removed to
Ohio at an early day and from there to Michigan in 1865. Diana
Kaescher was born in Ohio in 1838. .She was a daughter of j'^ederick
and Mary (Haulin) Kaescher, natives of Prussia, who immigrated to
America and settled in Ohio at an early day. To Stephen and Diana
(Kaescher) Knecht were born two children: William Henry the subject
of this sketch, and FJvvood Frederick, born May 12, i860, died November
24. 1884. William Henry Knecht came to Kansas in 1884 and located
on (lovcrnnunt land in .\villa township, Comanche county, where he
has since been engaged in farming and stock raising. He ]xissed through
the early-day trials encountered by the average pioneer and has suc-
ceeded tr) the extent that he is now one of the prosperous men of the
coimty. He owns a well improved farm of 785 acres, and since coming
to Kansas has taken an active interest in local affairs. For ten years
he was postmaster of Avilla, which was a lively town in the early days
but met the fate of many of the early Kansas towns and is now extinct
and erased from the map. Mr. Knecht is a Republican and has held
various township offices. He was married .August 26. 1890. to Miss .Anna
K., daughter of .Abraham and Flizabelh (Shelley) Darnell, natives of
A'irginia. The father was born September 20, 1822. He was an early
settler in Kansas and died in Cowley cotmty June 4, 1884, having been
gored to death by a bull. His wife was born December 12. 1818. and
died in I'.oone county, Indiana. .April 22. 1862. They were the i):uents
of six children, as follows: Isaac; Rebecca; Sarah C. ; William Henry
igO BIOGRAPHICAL
(deceased); Anna K. and Lucy (deceased"). To Mr. and Mrs. William
Henrv Kencht have been born four children : Frederick Ehvood, born
September 3. 1893, died in infancy; Paul \\'illiam, born September 21,
1894; Elmer Harold, born March 17, 1896, and died July 26, 1896, and
Harry, born May 20, 1897. Mr. Knecht is one of the pioneers of southern
Kansas who is entitled to his share of credit for the part that he has
taken in tiie development of Comanche county.
Nis H. Skourup is mayor of Pittsburg, Kans., and a prominent fac-
tor in the industrial development of that progressive metropolis of south-
eastern Kansas. Mr. Skourup was born at Schleswig, a province of Ger-
many, May 28, 1868, and is a son of Hans and Catherine Skourup, both
natives of Schleswig, but of Danish origin. The father was a farmer
and engaged in that vocation throughout life, with the exception of the
time that he served in the army of his native land. Xis H. Skourup was
reared in his native land and educated in the public schools and when a
young man entered the Danish army and during his period of service
was a member of the famous body guard of the King of Denmark at
Copenhagen, for fourteen months. After the expiration of his term of
enlistment he served an apprenticeship in the creamery business in his
native land, and soon became an expert butter maker. In 1889 he im-
migrated to America, locating in Grimdy county, Iowa, where he was
engaged in creamery work for three years. He then entered the Water-
loo Commercial College, Waterloo, Iowa, where he completed a thor-
ough business course in 1893. Shortly after finishing business college
there he came to Kansas, locating at Richmond, where he had charge
of the creamery for three years. He then went to Ottawa and
engaged in business for himself, conducting the Ottawa Creamery Com-
pany, as owner and proprietor, for four jears. In 1900 he disposed of
his interests in Ottawa and came to Pittsburg, organizing the Craw-
ford County Creamery Company and has been president of that organ-
ization since that time, and through his untiring efforts, coupled with
his detailed knowledge of the creamery and butter business, he has built
up one of the most extensive businesses of the kind in southeastern
Kansas. The products of his creamery, which consist of butter, cream
and ice cream, have an established reputation for their high degree of
merit which needs no comment here. In addition to his active business
career, Mr. Skourup has found time to devote considerable attention to
the public affairs of his city. He has served as a member of the board
of education of Pittsburg, and in April, 1913, was elected mayor of
Pittsburg, and his administration of public affairs has been one of ef-
ficiency and economy, well known to all who are familiar with the con-
duct of his administration under the commission form of government;
recently inaugurated in that city. Mayor Skourup has shown himself
to be a man thoroughly capable of transacting public business on the
same high plan that he has conducted a successful private enterprise.
BIOGRAPHICAL I9I
He was united in marriage April i8. 1896, to Miss Anna M. Greischer,
of Richmond. Ivans. Mrs. Skoiirup is a native of the Sunflower State,
born in Richmond, I-'ranUIin county, and educated in the public schools
of her native county. She is a daughter of Charles Greischer, a prom-
inent farmer of Franklin county. To Mr. and Mrs. Skourup have been
born two children: Elnora. a graduate of the Pittsburg High School,
and ^lildred. a student of the Pittsburg schools. Mr. Skourup is a
members of the Masonic order, including the Mystic Shrine, and holds
membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His wife is a
member <if the Eastern Star.
William Aaron Brandenberg, president of the Manual Training Nor-
mal School, Pittsburg, Kans., is well known throughout the West and
Southwest as a prominent author, lecturer and educator. He was born
in Clayton county, Iowa, October 10, 1869, and is a son of Frank and
Enfield ( Ma-xwell ) Brandenberg. William .Aaron IJrandenberg was
reared on his father's farm and attended the district school, and later
graduated from the Volga High School. He then taught school about
a year and a half, and his first pedagogic experience was in the traditional
little old log school house. He then became assistant superintendent of
the Volga schools, and held that position for three years, resigning to
attend college. In 1895 he matriculated at Drake University, Des
Moines, Iowa, and was graduated in the class of 1900 with the degree,
I'aclielor of Philosophy. In 1900 he accepted the superintendency of
the Park Avenue district school, where he remained three years, when
he became superintendent of the Capital Park district school. In 1905
he resigned to accept the suiierintendcncy of the public schools at Mason
City, Iowa. In 1910 he became superintendent of the city schools of
Oklahoma City, Okla., and in .August, 1913, accepted the presidency of
the Manual Training Normal School of Pittsburg, and has capably
filled that responsible position to the present time. Mr. Brandenberg
has had a broad field i<( experience in educational work. He has done a
great deal of institute work and has been called to the field nf Chau-
tauqua work, in which he is very popular as a lecturer, and in con-
^Ide^able demand. He is an instructive and entertaining public speaker,
and has had a broad exi^erience in that line of work. Prof. Brandenberg
is the author of a research and reference work on United States History
and Civics of the State of Iowa, which was published in 1903. In
1903-4-5 he was instructor of education in Drake University, Des Moines,
Iowa. Mr. Brandenberg was married June 22, 1893, to Miss Alta, daugh-
ter of William and Lucy (Chapman) Penfield, of Volga, Iowa, where
her father is engaged in the mercantile business. Mrs. Brandenberg was
born at Volga, where she attended the public schools, graduating from
the high school, and later attended Upper Iowa University, Fayette,
Iowa. To Mr. and Mrs. Brandenberg have been born six children:
Lola, graduate of the Oklahoma City High School, Central Normal
192 BIOGRAPHICAL
Training' School of Oklahoma, now a member of the senior class of
normal college, State Manual Training Normal School ; Amv, member
of the senior class of Pittsburg High School; Merrill, student in the
Pittsburg High School; Harold, Helen and ^^'illiam A., Jr., all students
in the Pittsburg schools. Mr. Pirandenberg is a Knights Templar
Mason and a member of the Shrine, Knights of Pythias, Modern ^^"ood-
men of America and Yeoman. He and his wife are members of the
Christian church.
Harry Brent Kumm, cashier of the First National Bank of Pittsburg,
is one of the substantial young business men of the banking industry of
southeastern Kansas. Mr. Kumm was born at Sedalia. Mo., June :?3,
1880, and is a son of Louis Kumm. a personal sketch of whom appears
in this 'volume. Harry Brent Kumm was about three years of age when
his parents removed to Pittsburg, and thus his entire life has, practically,
been s])ent in that city. He was educated in the public schools and
about two months before he would have completed his high school course
he accepted a position as messenger in the First National Bank. This
was in January, i8g8, and he has been connected with this financial in-
stitution since that time, and gradually advanced from one position to
another, and on July i. 1911. became, cashier, succeeding J. L. Rogers,
whose death occurred at that time. Mr. Kumm has held that position
since that time and is recognized as one of the capable financiers of Pitts-
burg. He is a director in the Pittsburg Building. Savings & Loan Asso-
ciation. He takes an active part in the promotion of public affairs and
is active in the Chamber of Commerce and Merchants' Association. He
is a director of the Young Men's Christian Association and a member
of the First Presbyterian Church and active in the work of the congrega-
tion, being a member of the board of trustees and president of that body.
He is prominent in Masonic circles, l^eing a York Rite Alason and a
member of the Shrine. Mr. Kumm was united in marriage October 7,
1914, to Miss Lorene. daughter of J. H. and Delila (Fhut) Cooper, of
Westmoreland, Kans. The Cooper family came from Illinois and are
early settlers of Pottawatomie county. Kansas, where the father was a
prominent farmer and stock raiser and served as register of deeds for
six years and sli,eriff for four years of that county. He died in May,
iqi2, and is survived by his widow, who resides at Westmoreland, Kans.
Mrs. Kumm was born in Pottawatomie county, and educated in the pub-
lic schools of Westmoreland and Washburn College, Topeka. She is a
member nf the Methodist Episcopal church.
Charles M. Bean, a pioneer of Comanche county now deceased, was
a prominent factor in the development of Comanche county, and 1)\'
his industry and thrift became one of the well-to-do and substantial
citizens of that section of the State, lie was a native of Iowa, born
September 6, 1853, a son of Plato Bean, who was a pioneer of Iowa and
in 1864 returned to Illinois, where he spent the remainder of his life.
BIOGRArillCAL 103
Charles M. llean was ediicalcd in tin- jmhlic schools and when a younc;
man removed to Texas, where he remained until 1884. when he came
to Comanche county, Kansas, and located on Government land twelve
miles east of Coldwater. 1 Ic entjafjed in farming and the cattle Inisiness
and was successful, lie bought additional land as he ])rospcrcd and at
the time of his death owned 88o acres, and his wife has bought 840
acres since his death, and the family now owns 1,720 acres. It is all
well improved and considered one of the best farms in Comanche county.
Mr. r.ean was a Republican, but never asj)ircd to hold political office,
although he was public s])irited and took a keen interest in the welfare
of his county and State. . lie died April 27, 1900, and thus closed a
successful and honorable career. He was united in marriage October
21. 1875, at Monticello, 111., to Miss Xancy M. Cooper, who survives
him and now resides at \\\'ilmore, Kans. Sh'e is a daughter of William
X. and Elizabeth (Rainwater) Coo])er. Mrs. Bean was born at Monti-
cello, 111., February 21, 1857. Her father was a native of Pulaski, Ky.,
born May 15, 1821, and died at Post Oak, Texas, .April i, 1890. His wife
died at Monticello, 111.. .Xjiril 25, 1868. They were the i)arents of thirteen
children, as follows: Elizabeth Ellen, Mary Jane, Oliver Perry, Martha
Anne, Franklin Green, Carl Craughen, William Howard. .Xancy Margaret,
Sarah .Mice, Dora Emma, .\riz<ina r>elle, Levi Lincoln and L'relda Ressa.
To Charles M. Ilean antl Xancy M. Coojjer were born five children:
Franklin Alonroe, born SejUember 17, 1876; Henry Oscar, born June 3,
1879; Purley Xewton, born March 25, 1882; William Cooper, born June
15, 1884; Dora Alice, born January 6. 1890. The I'.ean family ;ire anmng
the prominent citizens of Comanche county and are highly respected.
Merit M. Cosby, a Kansas ])ioneer and a isrominenl citizen of Clark
county now living retired at Protection, was born in Jefferson coiuity,
Indiana, Xovember 13, 1862. He is a son of Thomas X. and Mary
Elizabeth Jane (Xay) Cosby. The father was a native of Kentucky, born
near Covington March i, 1822. His ])arents were \'irginians who settled
in Kentucky before that State was admitted to the L'nion. Mary
Elizabeth Xay was born in Jefferson county, Indiana, .April 13, 1825.
She was a daughter of Samuel Xay, a native of \'irginia and a ver)- early
settler in Indiana. She died July 20, 1873. Thomas X. Cosby removed
from Kentucky to Indiana in 1841 and settled in Jefferson county, where
he was successfully engaged in farming and building until his death,
January 31, 1869. He was well off at the linn- of his death. He was
a prominent Mason and a member of the Kaptist church. To Thomas
X. and Mary Elizabeth Jane ( Xay) Cosby were born eight children, as
follows: Sarah Isabella, born March iG. 1844. married Zephaniah Loyd,
a Civil war veteran who served as a ))rivate in the Eighty-second regi-
ment, Indiana infantry, and resides in Jefferson county, Indiana; Mary
Elizabeth, born I'cbruary 15, 1847, died January 2, 1849; William
Lafavette. \'alley I'alls. Kans.. born .April 26, 1850. married Christiana
194 BIOGRAPHICAL
Rutlidge and they have four children, Jolin, Lillie. Ora and Mamie;
George Otto, born November 25. 1832. pliysician. Bnrnsville, Ind., mar-
ried Anna Keneer and they have three children, Alyra, Hubert and Anna
Marie; Thomas Xaton, born May 8, 1855, married Martha Nevil, died
Mav 7, 1902, leaving four children. Elba, Otto, Lucinda and Edna; John
Irvin. born January 10. 1858. died September 13. 1858; Louisa Jane,
born Februarj' 28, i860, married George Rock and they have five chil-
dren, Bertha, Clara. Blanche, Arthur and Elmer, and Merit M., the sub-
ject of this sketch. Merit M. Cosby was seven years old when his
father died and about a year later his mother passed away, and thus he
was left an orphan at the age of eight years.- He went to live with an
older brother and attended the public schools of Jefferson county, In-
diana, and remained in that State until 1884. He then came to Kansas,
locating on Government land on Bluff creek, Clark county. The town
of Lexington was located on his homestead, and he was one of its or-
ganizers and incorporators in 1886. and was elected a member of its
first council, and held that office during the life of the town, which was
three years, when it became extinct for the reason that they failed to
secure a railroad. Mr. Cosby was engaged in farming and stock raising
until 1890. when he removed to Protection and engaged in the mercantile
business. He continued to buy land in Comanche county and is now
one of the large land owners of that section. He is a Republican and
prominent in the local organization of his party, and has held various
city and township offices and was justice of the peace for a number of
years. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and
the Baptist church. Mr. Cosby was married at Madison, Ind., March 16,
18S1, to Miss Florence Jane, a daughter of Gamaliel and Lydia Jane
(Lewis) Rogers, the former a native of Switzerland county, Indiana,
born October 31, 1837, of Ohio and Kentucky parents, his father being
born at Cincinnati, Ohio, when it was a mere trading post and his mother
a native of Kentucky. Gamaliel Rogers was a veteran of the Civil war,
having served four years as a private in Company A, Sixth regiment,
Indiana infantry, and participated in many important battles, including
Shiloh. His wife was a native of Indiana, born August 17. 1838. In
1886 the Rogers family came to Kansas and remained in this State until
1902, when they removed to Missouri. Mrs. Cosby was born in Ripley
county, Indiana, December 3, i860, and is the oldest of a family of ten
children, the others being: DeLana, born April 6. 1862, now postmaster at
Buffalo, Okla., married Isabelle Phillips, and they have seven children :
Ora, Estella, Maly. Alta. William. John and Taft ; Robert Willis, born
June 18, 1865, died September 22, 1885 ; Jessie Anne, born January i, 1866,
married Charles Pauly and they have four children : Frank, \Mlliam, Elva
and Xellie; Johnnie Belle, born May 10, 1868, married Charles Morrison;
Christiana Rachael. born November 18. 1870. married \\'illiam Schworkey
and they have five children: Orville, Charles, Lewis, Paul and Nicholas;
BIOGRAPHICAL 195
Samuel Nicholas, Ijorii July 6, 1872, married Mary Painter and they have
eight children; Moses, born August 10, 1873, died July 20, 1874; Celia
Rebecca, born October 6. 1879. married Samuel Diece, Gary county,
Kansas, and Pearl, born December 6, 1880, married Leslie Lynch and
they have two children ; Orville and Laverne. To Mv. and Mrs. Merit
M. Cosby have been born five children, as follows : Jane, born December
12, 1881. married Armand Baker, March 16, 1904; George Otto, born
December 7. 1882. died December 17. 1882; Lydia Myrtle. l)orn March
7. 1885, died September 7. 1885; I''''ed Leo, born August j8, 1889, married
Elaine Shepard May 30. 1914, and Foy Rogers, born December 12, 1894.
Mr. Cosh)' is one of the hardy pioneers who, like many other early
Kansas settlers, is entitled to a great deal of credit for the part that he
has played in making Kansas one of the greatest states in the Union.
These pioneers, no matter how much success they attain in a material
way, will never be fully repaid for the hardships which they ciuhired
and the dangers to which they were exposed during tlieir exi)ericnce
in the early days while establishing a home on the plains (jf the West,
not only for themselves but for posterity.
William Vonneida Jackson, of Mayo, Kans., has been an important
factor in 'the de\clij])mcnt of Comanche county for thirty years, and is
one of the large land owners and stockmen of so^1thern Kansas. lie is
a native of the Buckeye State, born at Dayton, Ohio, February 2, 1863,
and is a son of Samuel B. and Martha (Vonneida) Jackson. Samuel B.
Jackson was a native of Virginia, born at ^^'aterford, October 3, 1824.
of \'irginia parents. lie was a graduate of the ( )hio High School and
I'ater read law under the preccptorship of Judge White, who was later
a member of the Ohi(j Supreme Court. .Samuel Jackson was practicing
law at Dayton, Ohio, when the Civil war broke out. and when the call
for volunteers came he turned his law office into a recruiting station,
organizing two com|)anies. and was elected ca])tain of Company E,
Twenty-fourth regiment. Ohio infantry, and scr\ed in tliat capacity at
the front until his health failed and he resigned. In 1870 he came to
Kansas, locating on Government land in what was then Howard, but now
Elk Cf)unty. Here he spent the remainder of his life, and died November
28, 1877. His wife. Martha Vonneida. was born in Lancaster county,
Pennsylvania, October 16. 1838, and died March 2, 1872. She was a
native of Lancaster county. T^ennsyivania. and the oldest daughter of
Rev. Solomon and Elizabeth (I""rey) \'onneida. both Pennsylvanians.
To Samuel B. and Martha (Vonneida) Jackson were born three children:
William Vonneida, the subject of this sketch ; Charles H.. born A\n\\ 14,
1867, farmer. Comanche county. Kansas, and Martha Miriam, born June
3, i8(V), marrictl Harmon Kahler. of Hardin county. Ohio, and they have
four children: Carl. William. Henry and Mary. William \'onneida
Jackson was educated in the i)ublic schools of Ohio and Otterbein
Universitv of Westerville. Ohio, and in i88^ came to Kansas, locating
ig(, BIOGRAPHICAL
on Government land in Comanclie county. lie was one of the very
earliest settlers of that section of the State and in the early days
encountered all the discouraging features incident to the western Kansas
pioneer. He prospered in the cattle business, and with each sticcessful
step bought additional land until he now owns 5,700 acres, which is one
of the best stock farms in southern Kansas. His place is known as
"Valley Farm" and is located in Shinier township, twenty miles south-
east of Coldvvater, the county seat. The place is well improved, with
modern and convenient buildings, which includes one of the best resi-
dences in the county, which was built at a cost of $8,000. Mr. Jackson
has installed an up-to-date electric light plant, water works, etc. He
makes a specialty of raising Hereford cattle and Duroc-Jersey swine.
He is also a successful alfalfa and wheat grower. Mr. Jackson has
always taken a prominent part in public affairs of his locality and is
a Republican. He served as treasurer of Comanche county from 1894
to 1898. In 1908 he was elected a member of the State legislature, serv-
ing in the sessions 1909 and 1911, and took a prominent part in that
legislative session, in which he was a useful member of many important
committees. He was united in marriage April 18, 1889, at Coldwater,
Kansas, to Miss Rose Robertson. She is a daughter of John and Maria
{'XeilD Robertson and 'was born at Spirit Lake, Iowa, December 10, 1869.
To Mr. and Mrs. Jackson have been born four children: Daniel Xeill,
born September 14, 1891 ; Ruth, born January 9, 1895; Charles R., born
June 19, 1896, and Lucile, born August 13, 1902. Mr. Jackson is a
member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he and his wife
are members of the United Brethren church.
Fred Hinkle, county attorney of Clark county, is one of the youngest
men in the State to occupy this important position. He is a native of
Kansas, born near .\shland. January 14. 1S91, and is a son of Chris and
Sarah .\. (Olinger) Hinkle. Chris Hinkle was born at Stone Arabia,
X. Y., June 19, 1857. a son of Jacob and Louise (Diehl) Hinkle, natives
of Germany. He was reared on a farm, educated in the public schools
of Xew York and was engaged in the live stock business for a .number
of years in Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska. In 1882, he came to Kansas and
settled in Montgomery county, and two years later removed to Clark
county, locating on government land two and one-half miles west of
.\shland, the county seat. He still owns his original homestead and
has added to it until he ncnv owns 720 acres which he dexotes to cattle
raising principally. He is one of the pioneers of Clark county, coming
to that section of the State about a year before the county was organized.
In 1885 he hauled lumber from the railroad at Dodge City, which was
the first lumljer brought to .\shland and was used in the construction of
the first building of that town. He was one of a family of eight
children, the others being as follows: Henry, Conrad (deceased) ; Philip,
Fred (deceased) ; ^^'illiam and Carmeta. Chris and Sarah (Olinger)
BIOGRAPHICAL I97
Hinkle were united in marriage at Buffalo, Mo., in 1885. She was born
at ISuffalo, Mo.. April 18, 1857, of Tennessee parents. Her father was a
farmer and spent the latter part of his life in Missouri lie was a Civil
war veteran, and ser\-ed as justice of the peace in Dallas cnunty.
Missouri, for fifteen years. lie died in 1890 at Ijuffalo. Mo., and his
wife passed away at the same place ten years later. .She was a descend-
ant of German nobility, being a member of the Garr family who trace
their lineage back to 1519, when the family coat of arms was known as
"Stanii3wai)pen Des Garr." Descendants of this Garr family founded a
colony in \'irginia in 1732, and organized Culpeper county in that State.
At that time Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, presented the \'ir-
ginia members of this family with a pipe organ as a token of his regard
f<ir them. Later, members of the (iarr family removed to Kentucky.
and built the first brick house that was erected in that .State and after-
wards one of them liecame governor of Kentucky. Members of this
family were among the founders of Louisville. Ky. Sarah Olinger was
one of a family of nine children, as follows : Martha, Susan, Nancy,
David, Louise, Mary (deceased) ; Elizabeth, Eliza (deceased), and Sarah.
Fred llinkle, whose name introduces this sketch, was the only child
born to Chris and Sarah (Olinger) Hinkle. lie was educated in tlie
public schools of .\shland and was graduated from the .\shland High
School in the class of igii. He was a member of the Ashland High
School debating team, who was well known all over the State. They
defeated thirty-five high school debating teams in Kansas and were
awarded a silver loving cu]) by the University of Kansas, .\fier coiu-
jjleting high school, Mr. llinkle entered the L'niversity of Micliigan.
Ann Arbor, Mich., where he was graduated from the law dci)artineiit -n
the class of 1914. While a student there he was a member of tlii;
Webster Law Club and served as president of that organization in 1913.
The Webster Law Club is one of the leading law students' associations
in America. On June 14, 1914. Mr. llinkle was admitted to the supreme
cotirt of Michigan and on the twenty-eighth of the same month he was
admitted to the su])reme court of Kansas. In 1914 he received the Demo-
cratic nomination for the office of count}- attorney of Clark county,
and was elected by the largest tnajority of any candidate on the ticket.
Mr. Hinkle is a close student and i)ossesses a natural adaptitude for
the law, and is making a marked success in his chosen ])rofession.
J. Claude Lewis, an extensive land owner and stockman of Comanciie
County. Kansas, has for a number of years been one of the large cattle
men of the Southwest. Mr. Lewis was born near Bethany, Harrison
county, Missouri. May 13, 1873, in a two-room log house, which became
the home of the family soon after the Civil war. He is a si>n of Merritt
and Mary (Copeland) Lewis. Merritt Lewis was a native of Darke
county, Ohio, where he was born in March, 1839. He was one of a
family of twelve children, four of whom were anKJng the first settlers of
igS BIOGRAPHICAL
Harper count}-, Kansas. Those who settled in Harper county were
Joseph. Frank M.. Hank and Mart. The Lewis family removed from
Ohio to Indiana at an early date, and settled near where Terre Haute is
now located, and the father died there when quite a young man. Merritt
Lewis was a Civil war veteran, having served in Companv E, Fifty-first
Illinois infantr\-, throughout the war. He participated in the battles of
Lookout Mountain, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, and many other im-
portant engagements. He received honorable recognition for bravery
on the field of battle, in the instance of capturing a CtJnfederate flag. At
the close of the war he went to Missouri and located in Harrison county,
where, with his small savings, he bought an unimproved farm near
Bethany. His wife. Alary Copeland, was a daughter of John K. Cope-
land, of Bethany, Mo. She was born near Gallipolis, Ohio, November
3, 1845, ^"d now resides at Carthage, Mo. To Merritt and Mary (Cope-
land) Lewis were born four children, as follows: Charles H., J. Claude,
the subject of this sketch; Burt V. and Grace. Merritt Lewis lived on
his farm near Bethany, Mo., until about eight years ago, when he re-
moved to Carthage, Mo., and spent the balance of his days in retirement.
He died May 11, 1913, aged seventy-five years. He was an uiiright
citizen and commanded the respect of all who knew him. and above all
he died possessed of the love of his children, who recognized in him the
noble qualities of an ideal father. During his lifetime he had extensive
ranch interests in Kansas and Indian Territory. He was a member of
the Masonic lodge and the Grand Army of the Reijublic. J. Claude
Lewis, whose name introduces this review, received his education in the
public schools of Bethany, Mo., and Wellington and Sedan, Kans. At
the age of seventeen he left Bethany, Mo., and went to Anthony, Kans.,
as his father was interested in the cattle business in that section of
Kansas and Oklahoma. Life on the plains and the cattle business
fascinated young Lewis from the start. After spending a season on the
plains, he returned to Bethany, Mo., and invested all his savings in cattle
and thus began his career as a cattleman. The following spring he
went to Carthage, Mo., spending the summer on his father's farm there,
but during all this time he heard the call of the West, and on August
2, 1893, he saddled his horse and started for .\nthony, Kans. When
he reached there he found all in excitement over the opening of the
neutral strip in Oklahoma, which was to be opened to homesteaders
September 16, 1893. It was important to be on the ground early in order
to have a choice of the land which was to be opened to settlement, and
the man with the fastest horse had considerable advantage in the race
for a good location. Mr. Lewis headed for a locality which is now Kay
county, near Blackvvell, Okla., and succeeded in locating on a choice
claim. During the day three or four others staked his claim, but he
settled with the first party to file for a small sum, which he considered
very large at that time. Shortly after this he drifted west in Oklahoma
BIOGRAPHICAL I99
with the cattle interests, with a view of locating south of the Cimarron
river. In the Gloss mountains on the Cheyenne creek, he liuntcd and
camped out. lookin<; the country over thoroughly and after finding no
permanent settlers he decided that he had found what cattlemen called
"a cow paradise." Here he arranged a camp and began the cattle
business. He bought young cattle as long as his money lasted and
worked for other cattle men at roundup work, etc., in order to pay ex-
penses. He invested every dollar he could get in young cattle and in-
creased his herd and range until 1896-7 when settlers began to rush in
and take np the range for homesteads. He then secured another range
in the sand hills, north of Salt Fork river, near Walnut Grove crossing.
About this time he sold a half interest in his business to Tom S. Mof-
fett, and they began buying cattle in the southern country and trailing
them to this ranch. They also secured a lease on a large tract of l.nul
in Comanche and Kiowa counties, Oklahoma, and during the same time'
they were feeding cattle extensively at Cameron, Kans. Settlers still
pursued them and began to close in on their range, and the Government
refused to renew the lease, and they began looking for another location
suitable for the cattle business and in June, 1900, they located at tiic
old town of A villa and Mr. Lewis formed a ])artnership with John Mof-
fett, Tom S. Moffett and L. 11. 'Andrews and they bought about 24,000
acres, with a view that it would some day make a good farming country.
Here they began handling cattle on a large scale and in addition to their
large holdings they leased considerable land near by. and at the same
time grazed hundreds of cattle in the Flint Hills, farther east. At the
same time they began farming on a large scale and began to raise con-
siderable wheat and other grain. In 1909-10 western land began to
boom and they sold several thousand acres to settlers in that locality,
but still retain about 9,000 acres and carry on general farming exten-
sively, as well as a large cattle business. In the spring of 1913 they be-
gan to prepare a large acreage for wheat and sowed between 6,000 and
7.000 acres that fall, and in 1914 their yield was over 100,000 bushels,
which is some item considering the high j)rice of wheat. Mr. Lewis
was united in marriage October 4, 1904. to Miss Maude P>. Thrift, of
Chetopa. Kans., who with her parents resided in Harper county, Kansas,
near .\nthony, for thirteen years before locating at Chetopa. Mrs. Lewis
was born in Dallas comity. Iowa, .\ugust i,^, 1XH3. .^hc' is ;i daughter
of S. J. and .Mice (Nevil) Thrift. .S. J. Thrift was born in Guilford
county. Xorth Carolina, July 28, 1848. and went to Indiana when a boy.
When the Civil war !)roke out he was in that State, and on December
28, l86_^, enlisted at Indianajiolis. Iiul., in Com|>any 1. Xinth reginunt.
Indiana cavalry. He particii)ated in the battle of Pulaski, Tenn., and
in the cam])aigns against Forest and Hood. He was also at the battles
of Drick River. Cohunbia. Franklin and Xashville. He received an hon-
orable discharge September 25, 1865. .\t the close of the war he re-
200 EIOGRfVPHICAL
turned to Indiana and was married and shortly afterwards went to Iowa,
locatingf in Dallas county and followed railroading and farming. In
1890 he came to Kansas with his family, locating near Anthony. Harper
county, where he followed farming until 1903, when he sold his place
and bought a farm near Chetopa, Kans.. where he resided until igo6,
when he sold out again and removed to Chetopa. where he is now living,
retired. Mrs. Lewis is one of a family of seven children. She was seven
vears of age when her parents located in Harper county. Kansas. She
attended the district schools and began teaching at the age of eighteen.
She taught school in Kansas and Oklahoma and was an exce]^tionally
successful teacher, and when the family removed to Chetopa. in ic)03,
she taught school in that vicinity one term ])rior to her marriage. Mrs.
Lewis is a woman of unusual aliility and is. in fact, not only a hel])-
mate. but a jjartner of her husband. She is just as successful a wife as
she was a school teacher. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis reside on their Comanche
county ranch during the summers and spend the winters in Kansas City,
Mo., where Mr. Lewis is interested with the Moffett Bros. & Andrews
Commission Company, as well as land interests in Kansas, Missouri,
Texas and .\rkansas. Mr. Lewis is one of the progressive and public
spirited citizens of Comanche county, and has ever been a hard worker
for the development of Comanciie county and the betterment of the
community. He is ever ready and willing to support, witii his time
and money, any enterprise that tends to the upbuilding of Comanche
county. He is vice president of the Peoples State Bank, of Coldwater,
Kans.
Samuel H. Hughs, a Civil war veteran and pioneer of Clark county,
Kansas, is a Kentuckian. He was born on a farm in Allen county, July
I, 1841, and is a son of Meredith and Xancy (Hunt) Hughs. The
father was a native of North Carolina, born February 22, 1802, of old
southern stock. He was a prominent plantation owner and a memljer
of the county court, and owned slaves before the war. He was killed
in Madison county, Arkansas, in 1S67, having been shot from ambush,
presumably bj- political enemies. His wife died in 1863. They were the
parents of nine children, as follows: Mary Ann, Joseph J., Betsey L.,
John L., Lucinda C. Martha, Walter Scott, Xancy Jane and Samuel H.,
all of whom are deceased exce]it Samuel H., whose name introduces
this review. .Samuel H. Hughs was reared in Allen and Ohfo
counties, Kentuck\-. and educated in the ])ublic schools. When the Civil
war broke out and the Xorth and .^uutii were mobolizing their warring
legions, allhough a southern man, he cast his lot with the Cnion. and
enlisted in Company F. First .Arkansas cavalry. He i)articipated in
many important battles and hard fought campaigns and at the expiration
of his term of service, after receiving his discharge, he engaged in the
mercantile business at Cincinnati, Ark., wliere he remained a few years,
when he went to Greene county, Missouri, where he was engaged in
BIOGRAl'IIKAL 201
farming until 1884. He then mined to Clark county. Kansas, locating
on Government land in Lexington township, where he has since been
successfully engaged in farming and stock raising, and now owns a well
improved, productive farm of 1,500 acres. In 1885, shortly after coming
here, when Clark county was t)rganized, he was elected county treasurer,
and thus has the distinction of being the first county treasurer of Clark
county, and a further ])olitical distinction was conferred ui)on him at
that election in that he received every vote that was cast for the office
of county treasurer. He has always taken an active part in public affairs
and has always been a public spirited booster for the best interests of his
county and Slate. He was one of the founders of the town of Lexington,
which was a thriving western village for a few years but met with the
fate of many other early Kansas towns that v\ ere missed by the railroads
and are now extinct. Mr. Hughs was married October 7, 1868, to Miss
Eliza E., daughter of David W. and Rozilla (Still) ISryaiU. She was
born in Lawrence county, ^Missouri, August 15, 1S51. Her father was
a native of \'irginia, born in 1S07. and died May 29, 1887, and her
uKither was l)orn in 1818 and died April I, 1895. To Mr. and Mrs.
Hughs have been horn eight children, as follows: Meredith William,
born August 18, 1869, died September 14, 1870; Rozilla Delia Dian, born
February 10, 1871, died May 8. 1876; Lemuel C, born June 20, 1874,
died October 5, 1874; Ottawa L., born July 13, 1876; Timothy AL, born
January 2(), 18S0; (iay .\., born .\ugust 23. 1886; David, born March ly,
1890, died March ij. 1890, and .\nnie V.\a. born Xovember 30, 1892. now
the wife of E. A. I^hoades. Politicall)- Mr. Hughs is a Republican. Lie
is a member of the Masonic lodge at Asliiand. Clark county. Kansas, and
also a meiuber of the Methodist Episcopal church, and is an active worker
in llu- ci 'nL;rcL;atii m.
Michael Sughrue. — The life's history of Michael Sughrue is closely
inlerwiixt'H with the early settlement of the Southwest. He was a Civil
war \eteran and well known as an early day plainsiuan and an Indian
scout, who rendered in valuable service to the (government in several
military expeditions against the Indians. He was the lirst sheriff elected
in Clark county and iiad the imusual distinction of having been elected
to that office five times. During the first years of his incumbrancy in
that office, when the country was new and has its "bad men," the duties
of the frontier sheriff were frequently the kind that "tried men's souls."
Hut he was always ecpial to the occasion, lie was a man of irnn ner\e.
(|uick ])erception, courage and resourcefulness, and as an officer of the
law never shrang fro mhis duties no matter how hazardous. Michael
Sughrue was a native of County Kerry, Ireland, born l'"ebruary 17, 1844.
He was a son of Hiunphrey L. and Mary (Sullivan) .Sughrue,
natives of Ireland. The jiarents immigrated to America witli their family
of three children in 1852; they located in Washington, D. C. wli.ere the
father was a teaclier for ten vears. .Vs earlv as 1862 thev came to
202 BIOGRAPHICAL
Kansas, locating at Leavenworth, where the father was inspector of
weights and measures for the city of Leavenworth twenty-five years, and
lateV removed to Ford county, locating on Government land, where he
spent the latter days of his life. He died April 20, 1885. He was twice
married, his first wife being Mary Sullivan, and three children were born
to this union, as follows: Mary, born February 18, 1841, married John
Riley, now deceased, and nine children were born to this union : William
(deceased) ; James, Mary, Michael, Lizzie, Joseph, John. Ralph and
Daniel (deceased). The two younger children of Humphrey L. and Mary
(Sullivan) Sughrue were Patrick Francis and Michael (twins), born
February 17. 1844. Patrick Francis attended the public schools of
Washington, D. C, and when the Civil war broke out he enlisted in
Companv C, Xinety-fifth regiment, Illinois infantry, and served three
years and four months. He participated in the siege of Vicksburg, in
the Red River expedition under General P>anks. and many hard fought
battles and important campaigns, and at the close of the war he entered
the service as a farrier and in that capacity served at Forts Leavenworth,
Camp Supply and Dodge. He retired from the army in 1878, when lie
engaged in blacksmithing at Dodge City. In 1884 he was elected
sheriff of Ford county and served for four years at a time when the sheriff
of Ford county had to be a real sherif?, for that was the time that Dodge
Citv was the mecca of the criminal element of the frontier. He made
a good record and had many lively encounters with the gunmen of those
early days. He was seriously wounded at one time in subduing an
attempted jail delivery. He died April 2, 1907, from the effect of injuries
received in an elevator accident at Topeka. Patrick Francis Sughrue
was twice married, his first wife being Catherine Sullivan, a native of
Ireland, born in 1843 and died in 1877. Five children were born to this
union, two of whom are living, Catherine and Francis. His second
wife was Katherine Trutzler, a native of Germany, and eight children
were born to this marriage: William, Annie (deceased^, Humphrey,
Lizzie, Ralph, Joseph, Lena and Andrew. Michael Sughrue, whose name
introduces this sketch, was educated in the public schools of Washington,
D. C, and came to Kansas with his father in 1862. Shortly after coming
to this State he enlisted in Company E, Seventh regiment, Kansas
cavalry, serving four years. He was in a number of important battles
and was wounded once, although slightly. When the Civil war was
ended he entered the Government service as a scout, and served under
General Miles in that capacity in several expeditions against hostile
Indians in the West. * He rendered valuable service in that hazardous
sphere of military life. He was later transferred to the quartermaster's
department in the capacity of wagon master, and crossed the plains on
several occasions with supply trains from Fort Leavenworth over the
historic Santa Fe trail to Fort L'nion, X. Mex. Prior to 1885 he served
as under sheriff of the territory now comprising Clark county when it
BIOGRAPHICAL 2O3
was attached to Ford county for judicial purposes, and in 1885, when
Clark county was organized, he was elected its first sheriff, and from
that on until the time of his death he was elected sheriff of Clark county
five times. He died while serving his fifth term, January 2, 1901. He
took an active part in the early organization of Clark county and was
one of the ])ioneers to whom the great Slate of Kansas will ever owe a
debt of gratitude for the jiart that he performed so well in the early
settlement and in the development of the State. lie was a member of
the Catholic church and belonged to the Grand Army of the Republic.
Michael Sughrue was united in marriage at Atchison, Kans., Jmie 3,
1874, to Miss Anna, daughter of William and F.lizabeth (Devine)
W'alters, natives of Germany. Mrs. Sughrue was born in the Fatherland
May 13, 1838, and when three years old was brought to America by
her parents, who located at Atchison. Kans. Her father was a brick
manufacturer there and died June 20, 1899, and the mother died July 5,
1905. To Michael and Afina (Walters) Sughrue were born ten children,
as follows: Mary I-'lizabeth. born March 3, 1876; Francis, born September
i.^' ^^77'- \N'illiam, born January 13, 1879. died October 2, 1879; Julia,
died August 17. 1880; Cecelia, born October 15, 1882; .\gnes, born
December 2, 1884; James, born July 22, 1886; George, born January 12,
1888: I'.ernadine. horn December 13, 1890, and Herman, born June 7, 1899.
Odus G. Young, a member of the firm. Young Brothers, is one
of the most extensive cattlemen of the Southwest, and belongs to that
type of Americans who have become accustomed to doing big things
in the commercial world without apparently knowing it. He might prop-
erly be termed one of the captains of the cattle industry. The Young
Pirothers' ranch is located in the far famed fertile valley of Bluff creek,
Clark county, Kansas, consisting of 15,000 acres, and is one of the best
equipped cattle ranches in southern Kansas. Odus G. and Alanzo F.
"S'oung engaged in the cattle business in Kansas and were located in
Comanche county until 1908, when they bought ii.ooo acres in Clark
county, and later added to it until they now own 15,000 acres. They
not only raise and feed cattle extensively but have branched out in other
spheres of agriculture, about 200 acres of their ranch being under
alfalfa, and in 1914 they raised 1,200 acres of wheat, which
averaged twenty-five bushels per acre. Odus G. Young has for
years been an extensive cattleman in Oklahoma and Texas, and now
has other vast and varied interests besides the Clark county. Kansas
property, wliich by no means is a small jiroposition in itself. He is
heavily interested in Texas ranch iirojjerty. being one of the owners of
"Figure Two" ranch, which is also known as the "Black Mountain"
ranch, located in Fl Paso and Culberson counties. This ranch consists
of 450,000 acres and has a capacity of handling 20,000 head of cattle, and
is one of the great cattle ranches of western Texas. In addition to his
interest in these vast acres in Texas and Kansas Mr. Young is also
204 BIOGR.\PHICAL
extensively interested in farm property in Missouri. Odus G. Young
is a native of Missouri. He was born in Ray county Januarv- 20. 1858,
and is a son of Ambrose M. and Permelia Frances (Graham) Young,
natives of Missouri and of Kentucky parentage. Mr. Young was
reared in Missouri and educated in the pubHc schools of that State and
has been doing things ever since he started out in life. He has been
interested in politics since he was a boy, and has always been strong for
the policies and principles of the Democratic party. He was elected
mayor of Carrollton, Mo., in 1888, and served two terms, being the
youngest man ever elected to that office in Carrollton and the only
one elected to succeed himself up to that time. In 1896 he was elected
a member of the Missouri State senate from Jackson county, and was
prominent in the legislation of that body. He was a member of a number
of important committees of the senate, and was chairman of the judiciary
committee. He was the author of the bill creating the home for feeble
minded which is now located at Marshall. Mo., and stands as a monu-
ment to his efforts in the cause of humanity. This was the first and is
the only institution of its kind in the State of Missouri. Mr. Young
has been a prominent figure in Missouri State politics for years, and is
well known all over the State. A\'hile his business interests have ex-
tended over a wide scope of country, including several states, Mr. Young
has continued to reside in Missouri, and has a beautiful home at Xo.
2910 Campbell street. Kansas City, ilo. Mr. Young was united in
marriage December 14. 1882. to ^liss Ida F. Gant. a native of Ray
county, Missouri, born January 3, 1862, and a daughter of Dr. Jackson
D. Gant. a near relative of the late Judge Gant of the supreme court
of Missouri. To Mr. and Mrs. Young have been born six children, as
follows: Jack F.. born November 3, 1889; David (deceased); Graham
(deceased); Odus G.. Jr.. born May 13. 1895; Carrie Frances; Ambrose
(deceased). Mr. Yoimg is a member of the time-honored Masonic
lodge.
Charles C. Everitt, the efficient and jxipular county clerk of Crawford
county, is one of the well and favorably known men in that section of the
State. Mr. Fveritt was born in Middlefork, Hocking county, Ohio, De-
cember 12. 1873, and is a son of R. S. and Elizabeth (Friend) Everitt,
natives of Ohio. The father was a descendant of Pennsylvania Dutch
stock, and his parents removed from the Keystone State to Ohio at a
very early date. The mother is of German and French descent, and
her parents were also pioneers of Ohio. R. S. Everitt came to Kansas
with his family in 1883. and on September 20 of that year, located on a
farm five miles northeast of Girard. and he was engaged in farming
there for a number of years, and now owns a farm two and a half miles
northwest of Girard. but for the last few years has been engaged in
business in Girard. He is a Republican and has been active in the politi-
cal life lit the county since locating there. He served for three vears
BIOGRAPHICAL
205
as suiK'rintendcnt oi the county poor farm. Charles C I'.vcrilt, whose
name introdiices this sketcli. is one of a family of seven chiklren. as
follows: Charles C; \V. C, locomotive engineer on the Santa Fe rail-
road, Chanute. Kans. ; Jessie, married James Kelly, Girard. Kans. ; Ed-
ward, Girard. Kans.; Ray, occupies the home farm; Gladys and Anna,
botii residing; at home. Charles C. Everitt was educated in the public
schools of Ohio and Kansas and taught school in Crawford county for
two years. lie then entered the employ of the Devlin Coal Company,
now known as the Cherokee and Pittsburg Coal Company. Mr. Everitt
serxed in the capacity of vveighmaster for six years and for tv\'o years
was foreman of that company, resigning that position to become check
weighman for the miners, lie served in that capacity until January 11.
190'). when he was appointed deputy county clerk of Crawford county
and held that office four years. In 1912 he received the Republican
nomination for the office of county clerk and notwithstanding the fact
that 1912 was not a Republican year in general and was a Socialist year
in particular, in Crawford county. Mr. Everitt was defeated by the
small margin of seventy-seven, out of a total of 12,000 votes. In the
following January, when he turned his office o\-er to his successor, he
accepted a position as bookkeei)er and cashier for the J. \i. Crowe Coal
&■ Mining Company, and in 1914 he again became the Rc]Miblican can-
didate for county clerk and after one of the hardest fought iiolitical cam-
paigns in Crawford county, he was elected by a majority of 293. and
assumed the duties of that office January i, 1915, and is now serving in
that capacity. Mr. Everitt's qualifications as an accountant and his long
experience with the duties of the office of county clerk well qualified
him for that resiionsible position. He was united in marriage December,
1896, to Miss Rosa, daughter of C. I'. Montee, a pioneer of Crawford
coimty. who came from Illinois to Kansas at an early date. To Mr. and
Mrs. Everitt have been born four children, as follows: Robert Clifford,
aged sixteen ; Frances Pauline, aged fourteen ; Alta Marcet, aged thirteen,
and Charles Montee, aged nine. Mr. E\eritt is a staunch Republican
and has been active in the party organization since casting his first vote.
He served as treasurer of the school board of Crowberg. Kans. Me is
a member of the Masonic lodge, the Ancient Order of I'nitcd Workmen
and the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and licilds membership in the Metho-
dist Episcopal church. Mr. Everitt is a strong advocate of out-door
sports and is an enthusiastic discii)le of hunling and fishing and has a
reputation of being the best wing shot in Crawford county \\ ilh the
true spirit of the sportsman, he is a great dog fancier, Llewellyn set-
ters being his favorites and he always keeps a few of them in his kennels.
Benjamin Ulysses Towner, a Kansas pioneer and early day cowboy
and ])lainsnian of the Snuihwcst, is now a well known and pros])er<ius
real estate man at Protection. Kans. He was born in I'ike ccmnty. ( )hio.
Januarv 24, 1S73. and is a son of William 11. and M.irgai'cl A. (Smith)
206 BIOGRAPHICAL
Towner. For a more extended history of the Towner family see sketch
of Calvin C. Towner in this volume. Benjamin U. Towner came to
Kansas with his parents in 1884, and at the early age of eleven years
began his career as a cowboy on the plains of Kansas. He followed that
vocation in Colorado, Indian Territory and Texas, and for sixteen years
lived in the saddle. He became an expert horseman and roper and a
crack shot. His was the school where self-reliance, resourcefulness and
courage were developed. He made nine trips with cattle over the trail
from Xew ^klexico and Texas ranges to Kansas. He Avas
present at all the openings of the Indian lands to white settlement in
Oklahoma, beginning with the original opening of a part of that territory
in i88g. He broke seventy-six head of wild horses for the use of other
people preparatory for the race for land at the opening of the Cherokee
strip in 1893. He was engaged in handling horses and cattle on the
range until 1906, when he located at Protection and engaged in the
livery business. In 190S Mr. Towner engaged in the real estate and
auction business and is one of the successful and prosperous real estate
men of southwestern Kansas. During the years 1912-13 he did $463,000
worth of business in real estate, besides an extensive auction business
throughout southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma. Mr. Towner
was united in marriage .Vpril 25, 1903, to Miss Elva B.. daughter of
James and Jane (Cochran) Smith, natives of Indiana, where Mrs. Towner
was born April 2, 1873, and came to Kansas with her parents in 1876.
Mr. Towner is a Thirty-second degree Mason, being a member of Con-
sistory Xo. 2. Wichita. Kans. Politically, he is a Republican.
John J. Pierson, wholesale grocer. Parsons. Kans., is a pioneer of
southern Kansas, and for forty-five years has been an active factor in the
commercial development of Parsons and vicinity. Mr. Pierson was born
in Hancock county. Illinois. March 27, 1846, and is a son of Thomas
William and Susannah (Triggs) Pierson, the former a native of Ken-
tucky, born near Lexington. March 28, 1818. and the latter a native
of Ohio, born September 5, 1820. They were married August 2, 1840,
and two children were born to this union : Mary Eliza, born July 23,
1843. now the wife of J. J. Jones, Parsons, Kans.. and John J., whose
name introduces this sketch. The father died when John J. was about
four years of age, and shortly afterwards the mother removed to
Keokuk coimty, Iowa, and located on a farm. Here John J. Pierson
was reared to manhood and received his education in the public school.
His mother died in 1865 and in 1869 Mr. Pierson came to Kansas and
located a claim near Altamont, Labette county. At that time the railroad
was not built south of Kansas City. It was graded, however, as far
south as Paola. After locating his claim. May 25, 1869, he went to
Emporia. His maternal grandfather. Triggs, resided southwest of that
place, and young Pierson worked for farmers in that locality during
that summer. He then returned to Labette county and was employed
BIOGRAPHICAL 207
in a sawmill which he helped to set up cm Labette ereek, and was em-
ployed in the operation of that mill until May i, 1870, when he entered
into partnership with W. K. Mays, who was conducting a small general
store on his claim, which is now a part of the city of Parsons. The
store WMS located on the corner of what is now South Sixteenth street and
Thornton avenue; the building in which they did business is still stand-
ing, but has been removed to the Weeks place. In September, 1870, Mr.
Hays was appointed postmaster and the postoffice was named Mendota,
but on January i. 1871. the name of the postoffice was changed to Par-
sons, the railroad townsite comi^any having been organized and the name
Parsons was given to the town in honor of the president of the townsite
company. There was no railroad in this section of the State when
Messrs. Hays and Pierson began business, and they hauled all their
goods from Fort Scott, a trip usually occupying about three days. Prices
of provisions did not vary much from the present day high cost of living
with the exception of a few articles ; flour was $6.50 per hundred and
brown sugar sold for 20 cents per pound, there being no granulated in
the market, and bacon 25 cents per pound. About the time the townsite
comjjany was organized Messrs. llays and Pierson moved their store
building on a lot which is now in the rear of the St. Clair hotel and
continued business there until the following March, when the town
lots were sold. They then located on the east lot on which the Ellison
& ^fartin building now stands, on the south side of Broadway. In
January. 1874, they moved into a building west of the First National
Bank on Broadway. In the spring of 1875 '^'^^ partnership was dissolved,
Mr. Pierson taking over the business. Mr. Hays the postofifice and Mr.
Densmore. who had become interested in the business, totjk the ex])ress
business. Mr. Pierson then located in a store which occupied the j^resent
site of the State Bank, where he was engaged in the retail business until
1893, when he built the Pierson block and engaged exclusively in the
wholesale grocery business, which he has continued until the i)resent
time. Mr. Pierson is the only wholesale grocer in Labette county.
He is one of the extensive dealers in soutlu'in Kansas and has
built tij) a large and well established trade throughout the towns in the
vicinity of Parsons. He has three traveling salesmen on the road and
em|)loys from fifteen to seventeen peojjle in his office and warehouse.
In addition to his active mercantile career Mr. Pier.son is interested in
various local enterprises. He was one of the organizers of the Com-
mercial Bank of Parsons in 1874, and became a stockholder at the
organization. In 1878 he was elected one of the directors of that bank
and secretary of the board of directors, and has held that position to
the present time. He is the only living original stockholder of that
bank. lie is also interested in the Inter-State Mortgage and Trust
Cf)mpany and has been a director of that institution for several years, be-
ing elected to that office at the organization of the company. Mr.
2o8 BIOGRAPHICAL
Pierson was united in marriage October 6, 1878, to Miss Augusta S.,
daughter of Fredrick and Emily (Linecah) Braunsdorf. natives of
Germany. Mrs. Pierson was born in St. Clair county. Illinois. January
2^. 1856, where her parents settled in an early day. They removed to
Kansas and settled in Parsons in the fall of 1871. and shortly afterwards
located on a farm, where they resided until 1905. when they sold their
farm and removed to Parsons. The father died April 15. 1914, and the
mother passed away December 31. 1910. aged seventy-six years. To ]Mr.
and Mrs. Pierson was born one child. Lloyd Jay. born August 11, 1879.
and died ]\Iay 10, 1906. He was educated in the public schools of Parsons
and at the time of his death was engaged in the wholesale grocery
business, assisting his father. Mr. Pierson is a member of the time-
honored Masonic lodge and also holds membership in the Knights of
the Maccabees. Politically he is a Republican, and for a number of
years was active and influential in the local councils of his party. Mr.
Pierson not only bears the distinction of being a pioneer merchant of
Parsons, but is also one of the merchants who have made good. He does
thousands of dollars' worth of business every month, which contributes
in no small way to the commercial importance of Parsons. He takes
a commendable interest in public afTairs and is always ready and willing
to co-operate with any movement for the betterment or upbuilding of
his town or county. Mr. Pierson is a man of few hobbies. However, it
might be added that his chief recreation during the summer season is
caring for his lawn, and its beautiful appearance during' the summer
bears mute testimony to the constant care that Mr. Pierson gives it. In
1876 Mr. Pierson, in company with his old-time friend. W. K. Hays,
visited the Centennial held at Philadelphia, Pa., and at that time made
quite an extended trip through other eastern cities.
William H. Ryan, lianker, lawyer and farmer of Girard. Kans.. has
been a conspicuous figure in the affairs of this State for over a quarter
of a century. Mr. Ryan is a native of Nebraska, born in Omaha. August
15. 1857. and is a son of William and Bridget (Daughney) Ryan, the
former a native of England and the latter of Canada, both of Irish
descent. \\'illiam Ryan, the father, was brought from England to
Canada by his parents when four years of age. and grew to manhood
there. In 1854 he came to the States, locating at Omaha, Xeb., and
was one of the first settlers of that town and worked on the construction
of the first house that was built in that now thriving metropolis of
Nebraska. In 1869 he came to Kansas and bought a claim in the
western part of Crawford county and another one across the line in
Xeosho county. In 1870 he brought his familv to their new home on
the jilains of eastern Kansas. He was successfully engaged in farming
and was one of the substantial citizens, who contributed to the upbuild-
ing and development of the new country. He died near Osage Mission
in 1905. his wife having ])assed awav two years previously. William
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II. Ryan, whose name imrnduccs this sketch, was twelve years of age
when he came to Kansas with his parents. He liad attended the i)ublic
schools of Nebraska and after coming to Kansas attended the ])ublic
schools and a private school at Osage Mission. In 1880 lie bought his
first land of the railroad company, and since that time has added to his
tiriginal holdings until he has become one of the largest land owners of
Crawford county, now owning over 2,000 acres of well improved val-
uable land, all of which is operated under his personal supervision.
Three of his farms are occupied by his sons, and the balance of his farm
property is operated by tenants. All of his farm property is located in
the vicinity of Brazilton. In 1882 when the Nebraska, Topeka, lola &
Memphis Railway, now a part of the Santa Fe system, was being built
thri)iigh Crawford count}- Mr. Ryan established a grain and elevator
business at Brazilton, which was one of the new towns along that line.
He also opened a general store there and was appointed postmaster,
and was also agent for the Santa Fe Railroad Company and for a num-
ber of years bought and shipped cattle e.xtensively. lie still has exten-
sive interests in Brazilton and is president of the First State Bank of
I'razilton, which he organized Jime i. 1910, and has been president of
that institution since its organization. This is one of the thri\ ing and
substantial banks of Crawford count}'. It was capitalized at .$10,000,
and has a surplus of $2,400. The bank owns its own building and is
eqni|)ped with modern bank fi.xtures and furniture. C. H. Ryan is
cashier. Mr. Ryan had been interested in the banking business before
organizing the First State Bank of Brazilton. lie organized the Craw-
ford County State Bank, in 1907. becoming its first ])resitlent and held
that position until 1910, when he disposed of his interest and about
that time organized the First State Bank of Brazilton, as above stated.
Mr. Ryan read law at Girard and was admitted to the bar in the district
court before Judge Simonds. in 1S118. lie was admitted to the State
su])reme court in 1903 and the United States District Court in 1912.
He has been engaged in the practice of his profession at Girard for
the ])ast seventeen years, and is recognized as one of the able lawyers
of southeastern Kansas, He is a close student of the law and a
possessor of a well balanced legal mind. During his legal career at the
Crawford count}- bar he has been identified with some of the most
important litigation adjudicated by the courts of that district, and he
has frequently appeared in the State Supreme Coinn as well as the
Federal court. Mr. Ryan has been active in ])romoting the industrial
welfare of Girard and Crawford county, and was one of the organizers
and a member of the first board of directors of the Girard Coal P>elt
Railroad, which was organized in 1907 and o])erated between Girard and
the coal fields. He was elected president of the com])any in 1909 and
held that position until the road was sold to the lleims interests and
consolidated with the Pittsburg and Joplin line. The roafl was a finan-
2IO BIOGRAPHICAL
cial success, as well as a good thing for Crawford county. In addition
to his various private enterprises. Mr. Ryan has been prominently identi-
fied in the public affairs of Kansas for over twenty years. He is one
of the prominent Democrats of the State, and has taken a prominent
part in State politics, of which he has been a leading factor for a numl)er
of years. He was elected to the State legislature in 1892, serving one
term. This was during the stirring days of the Douglas-Dunmore ses-
sion and Mr. Ryan was an active member of the fusion element, and
was elected temporary speaker of the house by that party. During this
session he served on the committees of mines and mining and the
judiciary committee. He introduced a bill regulating weights of rail-
road sliipments, which became a law and which was one of the early
railroad regulatory measures. During that session Mr. Ryan was a
strong supporter of John Martin for United States senator, and cham-
pioned the cause of Mr. ^lartin in caucus and on the floor of the house.
In 1896 Mr. Ryan was elected to the State senate from Crawford county
and during his term served in two regular sessions and one special ses-
sion of the legislature, and was prominent in the legislation of all three
sessions. He was a member of the educational and judiciary committees
and was chairman on the committee on mines and mining In 1898 he
introduced the bill which gave mining organizations the right to par-
ticipate in the election of mine inspectors, and labor organizations the
right to elect labor commissioners. These laws remained on the statute
books until they were repealed by recommendation of Governor Hodges
during his administration, and, no doubt, the repeal of these laws con-
tributed to the defeat of Governor Hodges for re-election. In 1897
Senator Ryan championed a bill to give uniformity to the text books of
the State and he was one of the strong supporters of Senator Harris,
in that session. In 1909 he introduced Senate Bill No. 120, which was
an act concerning private corporations, placing a limitation upon their
power to mortgage and declared void all bonds or notes issued in excess
of such limitation. This bill carried in the senate by a large majority,
but was defeated in the house. It was one of the early movements to
emancipate the people from being burdened by watered stock and ficti-
tious valuations. Mr. R\an was actuated in presenting this measure by a
court decision in Nebraska, forbidding the lowering of railroad fares
because of inflated loans and watered stock. He was one of the pioneer
legislators of Kansas in the matter of laws regulating corporations. In
1900 Mr. Ryan's name was presented to the Populist convention for the
office of governor, at the Fort Scott State convention. He had the en-
dorsement of the labor element and made a strong showing in the con-
vention, but failed to receive the nomination. In 1906 he was elected
chairman of the State Democratic committee, and conducted the cam-
paign of that year, and was chairman of the State committee for tw(T
years. In 1904 he was the Democratic nominee for Congress in the
BIOGRAPHICAI., 211
Third district. This was the year of the Roosevelt landslide, and Mr.
Ryan met the common Democratic fate of that year. He has served as
mayor of Girard two terms. He has always been found fif^j^^hting in the
ranks of the regular Democratic organization with the exception of the
campaign of 1914, when Governor Hodges was a candidate for re-elec-
tion. Owing to the dissatisfaction on the part of labor in southeastern
Kansas on account of the repeal of certain labor laws, ^Nfr. Ryan favored
Mr. Billard for governor, and was an ardent supporter of the I'illard
movement. He has attended every Democratic State convention held
in Kansas since 1886 and in 1904 was an alternate at the St. Louis Na-
tional Democratic convention, and also attended the National Democratic
convention held in 1908. lie has been chairman of the Democratic Cen-
tral Committee of Crawford county, and has presided over numerous
congressional and county conventions. Mr. Ryan was united in mar-
riage in July. 1878. to Miss Ella Songer, a daughter of John Harrison
and Jane F. (Patterson) Songer, natives of Iowa, and early settlers in
Crawford county, Kansas, where Mrs. Ryan was born, October 16, 1857.
Her father died in 1880 and her mother now resides at Walnut, Kans.
To Mr. and Mrs. Ryan have been born eleven children, nine of whom
are living, as follows: Charles H., bank cashier, Brazilton, Kans.; Wil-
liam H., Jr., farmer, near Brazilton; C. M., conductor on the Joplin &
Pittsburg railroad ; George, resides at Seattle, Wash.; where he was can-
didate for secretary of State on the Democratic ticket in 1912; Frank,
farmer, Brazilton ; Belle, died at the age of si.xteen ; Lillian, married Ches-
ter Noland, Oklahoma City ; Leonard P., Girard ; Earnest, student in
the Girard High School ; Howard, student at St. Mary's College, St.
Marys, Kans., and Raymond, died in infancy. Mr. Ryan is a member of
the Knights of Columbus, and has been State advocate of that order.
He also holds a membership in the Benevolent and Protective Order of
Elks.
James L. Rogers. — In the death of James L. Rogers, which occurred
suddenlv June 24. 1911. not only his immediate family and friends met
with a great loss, Init the business world of southeastern Kansas lost one
of its most valued members and best citizens. He was an active and
enterprising man. whu iiad becimie a (li)niinant factor in financial anil
commercial Pittsburg. His untimely death was due to an accident which
occurred in which he was struck by a falling boulder while insj^ecting a
mine in wiiich lie was interested at Zinc, .\rk. James L. Rogers was a
native of If)wa, born at Sioux City, July 30, 1862. He was a son of
James and Victoria Rogers. The parents were pioneers of northwestern
Iowa and the father was killed l)y Indians, while a member of an c\]>edi-
tion engaged in su])pressing one of the many Indian uprisings of the early
days on the plains. James L., of this review, was only a few months
old when his father was killed, and his mother married again and aliout
1866 the family came to Kansas, settling in \\'ashington county, where
212 BIOGRAPHICAL
tlie step-father engaged in farming and stock raising. James L. spent
his boyhood days on the farm in ^^'ashington county and attended the
district scliools and later was a student at the Kansas State Agricultural
College, ^lanhattan, for two j-ears. He then learned telegraphy and
became an expert in that work. Employment in that vocation took
him to various sections of the country. For four years he was located
at El Paso, Tex., and for three years he was stationed at Chihauhau,
Mexico. In 1890 he made his first \enture in the banking business, or-
ganizing the First National Bank of Westmoreland. Kans., and was con-
nected with that institution about a year. He then went to Olsburg,
Kans., where he organized the Farmers' State Bank, becoming its
cashier. He remained in that capacity about six years when he dis-
posed of his interest in that bank, returned to A\'estmoreland and or-
ganized the Farmers 'State Bank of \\'estmoreland, serving as cashier
of that institution until 1900. He then went to Harrison, Ark., where
he was extensively interested in mineral lands, and while looking after
his interests there organized the National Bank of Commerce of Harri-
son, Ark., becoming cashier of that bank and directed the policy of that
institution one year, when he came to Pittsburg, Kans., and purchased
an interest in the First National Bank of Pittsburg, becoming its cashier
and served in that capacity until his death. He was regarded as a ca-
pable and conservative financier and one of the best posted men in the
intricate problems of finance and banking in the Southwest. He was
interested in a number of industrial enterprises in addition to banking.
He was a director in the Pittsburg Building, Saving & Loan Association
and secretary and treasurer of the Manhattan Zinc Company of Pitts-
burg. He was also deeply interested in the progress of the Young Men's
Christian Association and was treasurer of that organization. He was
one of the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal church and his fraternal
affiliations were with the Masonic lodge. Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Rogers was
twice married, his first wife being Miss Elizabeth Jane Richards. She
was a native of Pottawatomie county, Kansas, and was reared in that
county and educated in the public schools and Kansas State Agricultural
College, Manhattan. She died November 22, 1897. leaving two children.
Harry L.. who is now connected with the First National Bank, of Pitts-
burg, and Adalene, residing at home. On February 12, 1899. Mr. Rogers
was united in marriage to Mrs. Nannie Cave O'Daniel, daughter of D.
W. and Sarah \'. (Jones) Cave, the former a native of Indiana, and the
latter of Missouri. The father is an attorney and is now located at
Zinc, Ark. He was a pioneer lawyer of western Kansas, practising
law for a time in Cheyenne county, and at one time served as probate
judge of that county. He was one of the founders of Bird City, and took
a prominent part in tlie county seat rivalry that took place in that sec-
tion when the railroad was built. Mrs. Rogers was born in Nebraska
BIOGRAPHICAL 2I3
and educated in the public schools of Kansas and the Lincoln Xoimal
College and Lincoln Business College. To ^Ir. and Mrs. Rogers were
born three children: James L., Jr., Martha and Fred K., all attending
the model school. Slate Manual 'I'raining College.
Thomas J. Curran, a Kansas pioneer and prominent citizen of
Comanche county, now living retired at Coldwater, Kans., has been
actively identified with the interests of southern Kansas for over thirty
j-ears. He was born at .Smiimersville. A\'. Va., November 7, 1848, and is
a son of Michael and Mary (Reynolds) Curran. The father was a na-
tive of Ireland, born in 1821, and came to America at the age of fourteen.
He first located at Charleston, W. Va., where he was employed in a
salt works for a few years. He later engaged in farming near Summers-
viJle and was very successful. He died there, July 5, 1888. His wife,
Mary Reynolds, was born in Monroe county, Virginia, in 1830, of Vir-
ginia parents. She died January 22, 1906. They were the parents of ten
children. Thomas J., of this rex'iew. being the oldest. The others are
as follows: Jnhn (deceased); Robert (deceased); James Monroe (de-
ceased); Sarah, now the widow of Robert Cohlin ; Margaret, wife of
Jerry Murphy; Ellen, wife of O. J. Guseman ; Bettie, wife of Logan
Dodson ; Caroline, wife of Edgar Holstead, and Fannie, wife of George
Sauerenson. Thomas J. Curran received his education in the public
schools of Summersville. W. \'a., and remained on his father's farm
until he was twenty-two years of age. He then served as United .States
deputy marshal for four years, when lie returned to the farm and fol-
lowed that vocation there until 18S3, when he came to Ivansas, settling
in Comanche county. He located on Government land, southeast of
Coldwater, where he prospered and bought additional land until he
owned about 6,000 acres, and was one of the successful cattle men of
Comanche county. In 1910 he sold his ranch and retired from the ac-
tive pursuits of business. He then removed to Coldwater and invested
extensively in bank stock and kindred institutions, that did not require
his constant and close attention. Politically, Mr. Curran is a Repulili-
can, and for years has taken an active part in political and civic affairs.
He served as representative to the legislature from Comanche county
during the session of 1905 and 1907 and was a ])rominent factor in the
legislation of that session. He was a member of several important
committees and is the author of a number of important laws, which
are now on the statute books of Kansas. Mr. Curran was married May
f). 1876, to Miss Ada, daughter of James G. and Alargarct M. (Levisay)
Macomb, the former a native of New York, and the latter of Virginia.
Mrs. Curran was born in Xicliolas county, Virginia, May 6, 1851, and
died at \\'ichita, Kans., January 27. 1915. To Mr. and Mrs. Curran
were born four children: George, born February 2. 1877, was accidentally
drr)wned May 21, 1898, in Comanche county; Maude, born January 22,
1879, married 1". L. llolcoml). October 20, 1904, and they have two
214 • lilOGRAPHICAL
children, Thomas Curran, born May 19, 1909, and Donald Gilbert, born
June 25. 1912; Anna, born May 20, 1882, married Walter Lonker, Octo-
ber 28, 1908, and they have two children, Mary Louise, born September
19, 1910, and ^Valter Curran, born September 20, 1912; Idress, born
in Comanche county. May 20, 1889, married Sylvester Gilchrist, October
12, 191 1, and they have two children, Virginia, born May 20, 1913, and
Patrecia, born October 25, 1914. Mr. Curran is a member of the In-
dependent Order of Odd Fellows and the family are well known and
prominent in southern Kansas.
Henry R. Morrison, a Clark county pioneer, and successful farmer
and stockman, was born at Hickory Grove, 111., December 10, 1852, and
is a son of Benjamin and Rosetta (Redford) Morrison, the former a
native of Maryland, and the latter of Indiana. A history of the Morri-
son family appears in the sketch of James Morrison which precedes
this article. Henry R. Morrison came to Clark county with his parents
in 1884. He located on Government land in Bluff creek valley, where he
has made an unusual success of farming and stock raising and now owns
2,300 acres of some of the most productive land in the county, about
600 acres of which are under cultivation, the rest of which is devoted to
pasture. Mr. Morrison was united in marriage June 19, 1872, to Miss
Mary Belle, daughter of Benjamin and Fannie (Tucker) Metcalf. Mrs.
Morrison was born in Kentucky, in 1857. To Mr. and Mrs. Morrison
were born the following children : Effie, Pearl Edward, Benjamin,
Emma, Jennie, Gertrude, Rosetta, Erma, Clare, Ida, Alice and Mable.
Mr. Morrison takes a keen interest in public affairs and is always ready
and willing to give his support to any measure that tends to the up-
building or betterment of his county and State, and is one of the sub-
stantial men of his community.
James Morrison, a prominent farmer and stockman of Lexington,
Kans., is a native of Indiana. He w-as born, on a farm in Parke county,
Indiana, December 13, 1857, and is a son of Benjamin and Rosetta (Red-
ford) Morrison, tlie former a native of ^laryland and the latter of In-
diana. Benjamin ^Morrison came to Indiana with his parents when he
was fourteen years old. He followed farming all his life in that State,
where he died February 22, 1877. His wife, Rosetta Redford, was born
in 1838, and was a daughter of Henry Redford, an Indiana pioneer. He
built the first frame house in Terre Haute, Ind., in w^hich he conducted
a hotel for a number of years. Benjamin and Rosetta (Redford) Mor-
rison were the parents of nine children, as follows: Henry R., born
Deceml^er 10, 1852, a sketch of whom follows this article: Annie, born
December 26. 1854; James, the subject of this sketch; .Mice, born May
23. 1859; Martin H., born May 20, 1861 ; Emily, born June 20, 1863;
William (deceased) ; Benjamin (Deceased), and a son who died in
infancy. James Morrison spent his boyhood days on his father's farm
in Parke county, Indiana, and received a good common school education.
BIOGRAPHICAL 21 5
In 1886 he came west and located on Government land in Clark county,
Kansas. He selected an ideal place in Bluff creek valley for his future
home, where he now has one of the best farms in Clark county, contain-
ing over 2,000 acres, all well improved and very productive. The con-
veniences and equipment on his place today are in marked contrast to
the conditions that confronted him on his arrival in Clark count}-, nearly
thirty years ago. He lived in a sod house during his first two years,
and met with many discouraging features. Droughts and crop failures
were the common lot of the pioneer Kansas farmer, but he always had
faith in the futnre; of Kansas and was not disappointed in the outcome.
Mr. Morrison was married December 23, 1880, to Miss Lucy O. Grain.
a daughter of Stephen Grain, a native of Vermont, who removed to In-
diana at an early day. IMrs. Morrison was born near Georgetown, 111.,
January 11, 1855. To Mr. and Mrs. Morrison have been born six
children: Grace C., born October i, 1881 ; Oscar, born July 25, 1883;
Mariam B., born November 7, 1885; Ralph C, born June 3, 1887; Anna
L., born May 21, 1889. and Dolly, born March 31, 1892. Politically, Mr.
Morrison is a Republican, and has held numerous local offices of trust
and responsibility! The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal
church.
Guy E. Turner, who has conducted the office of county clerk of
Crawford county for the past two years, is an exponent of the theory
that "public office is a public trust" and the business of that office dur-
ing his administration has been an exemplification of that theory. He
was born in Benton county, :\rkansas, November 29, 1877, and is a son
of Elias and Ida Leonard Turner, the former a native of Grundy county,
Missouri, and the latter of Janesville, \\'is. The father died when Guy
was about a year old and the boy went to live with his griandparents,
who resided in Jasper county, Missouri. His grandfather died when
he was about twelve years of age and his grandmother passed away
three years later and young Turner was again an orphan at the tender
age of fifteen. He finished his education in the district schools of
Missouri, by his own efforts, lie canvassed for books and did all man-
ner of things, in order to obtain an education and qualify as a teacher,
and after teaching two years he went to Rich Hill, Mo., where he ob-
tained employment in the mines. About this time his health failed and
he was obliged to seek a change of climate. He went to Wyoming,
where he remained until 1903, and after regaining his health came to
Crawford county, Kansas, where he followed mining until 191 2. when
he became the nominee for county clerk on the Socialist ticket and was
elected by a satisfactory majority, and has served in that capacity until
the present time. Mr. Turner is a capable and conscientious man and
has been an efficient public officer. He is a member of the Ancient
Free and Accepted Masons, Independent Order of Odd Fellows and,
])olitically. is a Socialist.
2l6 BIOGRAPHICAL
John W. Stark, prominent farmer and stockman of Comanche county,
was born at Tiffin, Ohio, November 22. 1858. He is a son of Nicholas
and Mar}- (Kettemjer) Stark. The father was a native of Germany,
born in 1822, and immigrated to America with his parents when eleven
years old. They located in Ohio, where Nicholas Stark followed farm-
ing for a time, when he removed to ^linnesota, and from there to
Missouri, where he died in 1884. His wife, Mary Kettemyer, was a na-
tive of Ohio, where she was born in 1835, of German parents. She
died in 1905. John W. Stark was one of a family of six children, as
follows: John W., Louise, Josephine, Frank, Appolonia and Thomas
(deceased). Mr. Stark, whose name introduces this sketch, received his
education in the public schools of Minnesota and Missouri. In 1884
he came to Kansas, locating on Government land in Avilla township,
Comanche county, where he has since been successfully engaged in
farming and stock raising. He has added to his original holdings, until
he now owns one of the finest farms in the fertile valley of Salt Fork.
He is one of the extensive stock raisers of that section. Mr. Stark was
united in marriage February 8, 1882. to Miss Callie M., daughter of
Joseph and Anne (Johnson) Sewell. Mrs. Stark was born in Perry
county, Missouri. September g, 1861. To Mr., and Mrs. Stark have
been born three children : Carrie ^I., born April 6, 1886. died March
15, 1909; Joseph Bernard, born December 19, 1889, graduated from the
Coldwater High School in the class of 1906, and from the Salt City
Business College, Hutchinson, in the class of 1910, and Bessie, born
April 9, 1895. educated in the Coldwater High School and Mt. Carmel
Academy. A\'ichita. Kans. Mr. Stark is a Thirty-second degree Scottish
Rite Mason, and belongs to the Wichita Consistory. Politicall}-. he
is a Republican, but has never sought politicaT honors. However, he
has held various township offices from time to time. He is well and
favorably known throughout Comanche county, and is always ready
and willing to identify himself with any movement for the betterment
and upbuilding of his county.
John I. Lee, deceased, was a pioneer of southwestern Kansas and an
earlv dav newspaper man of Clark county. His influence in behalf of
the development and upbuilding of that section of the State will long
be remembered by the real pioneers of southwestern Kansas, who are
familiar with the history of that formative period of the early days.
John L Lee was a native of Missouri, born in Webster county. February
2, 1857. The Lee family came to Comanche county. Kansas, in 1884.
and John L, his father, and two brothers proved up on a section of land
there. In 1885 John T. Lee came to Clark county and located at Ash-
land, where he purchased the Clark county "Clipper." a weekly news-
paper, which he published for a number of years. Mr. Lee was a Demo-
crat and advocated the policies^ and principles of that party through the
columns of his newspaper. However, politics was not the chief mission
UlllC.KAl'lIKAl. 217
of the "Clipper." but, as Mr. Lee announced in the first issue after he
assumed control of the paper, "that a more important mission lies before
us than the discussion of politics." He used the influence of his paper
to promote the development of Ashland and Clark county, and he be-
longed to that class of public-spirited citizens to whom Clark county and
that section of the Stale owes its material development, in the way of
railroads, public buildings and institutions and other improvements.
Mr. Lee took an active part in public affairs, and was elected clerk of
the district court in 1888, and re-elected to succeed himself in 1890,
serving four years. The fact that his party was in the minority shows
the esteem and confidence in which he was held, when he was elected
to public office largely on his ])ersonality. .\ttorneys and others still
comment on his efficiency as an officer and his jjleasant and agreeable
methods of dealing with the public. He was ai>pointed register of the
United States land office, at Dodge City, by President Cleveland in
1894, and served four years. He was a faithful officer and many of the
hoineseekers of those early days remember his courtesy and obliging
metiiods of conducting the Government land office. In 1891 he went to
r)klahoma and located at Cordell. wliere he engaged in the coal and
lumber business and was as active in promoting the welfare of his
home and community as he had been in Clark county. Through his ef-
forts in securing necessary legislation. Cordell was established as the
permanent county seat, and he lived to see it develop into a prosperous
town of several thousand people. John L Lee and Kllen .A.. Carson
were married at Urbana. 111., in 1890. She was born in Champaign
county. Illinois. August 11, 1864, and was a daughter of William G. and
Martha Jane (Hales) Carson. For a more com])lcte history of the Car-
son family see sketch of Caleb \\'. Carson, a brother of Mrs. Lee. else-
where in this volume. To Mr. and Mrs. Lee one child was born. .Mien,
who died in childhood. John I. Lee died at his home in Cordell. Okla..
December 25. 1914, and is survived by his widow. He was a man who
had many friends. Simplicity and candor were the -dominant traits of
his character and the highest order of honesty marked his every act in
private and public life.
Webster N. Wallingford, a Kansas jjioneer and i)rominent citizen of
Clark county, now living retired at Ashland, is a native of Kentucky. He
was born at Tolesboro, Ky.. December 11, 1843, •'"f' '^ '^ ^on of Mark and
Martha .\nn (Willet) Wallingford. natives of Kentucky. The father
was born in 1801 of \'irginia parentage and spent his life in the mer-
cantile business in his native State, where he died in 1858. 11 is wife,
Martha Ann Willet, was a daughter of John G. and Nancj' Willet. and
was horn in Maysxille. Ky., in 1810. being the first white child born in
that town. She died in 1883. IMark and Martha .Ann (Willet) Walling-
ford were the parents of twelve children, the first four of wiiom died
in infancv. and the r>thers are as follows: lulia I!, (deceased); Xancv
2l8 BIOGRAPHICAL
S. ^deceased) ; Ahin AI., \\'ebsler X.. Francis A., Alary A., Alartha E.
and Sarah E. Webster X. \\'allingford was reared in Tolesboro, Ky..
and educated in the pubHc schools, and had just reached the age of
manhood when the Civil war broke out. He enlisted in Company G,-
Tenth regiment, Kentucky cavalry, and served an enlistment. He then
returned to his home at Tolesboro, and engaged in the mercantile
business. He was an expert penman and accountant, and for a time
was deputy clerk ior recording deeds in his county. In 1884 he came
to Kansas, locating on Government land in Antelope valley, Englewood
township, Clark count}', and engaged in farming and stock raising. He
took a prominent part in the organization of the county, and has al-
ways taken an active interest in public affairs. He is a Republican and
for several years has been prominent in the councils of his party. In
18(58 he was elected probate judge of Clark county, and re-elected to
that office at the expiration of his first term, serving four years. Mr.
Wallingford was married in Lew^is county, Kentucky, Xovember 17,
1868, to Miss Mary K., daughter of Samuel B. and Mary Ann (Jones)
Pugh. She was a native of Greenup county, Kentucky, born March 9,
1846, and died at Ashland, Kans., December 26, 191 1. She was a con-
scientious Christian woman and a high type of American womanhood.
To Webster X. and Mary K. (Pugh) Wallingford were born ten children,
as follows: Mary Xoline, born in 1869. died in 1872; Charles Augustine,
a personal sketch of whom follows this article; Mattie L., born August
23, 1873, married George Baker, Ashland, Kans. ; Elmer Richardson,
born Xovember 10, 1875, married Myrtle Hankins, in 1900. and they
have six children, Ralph, Eldon, Marguerite, Adelbert, Opal and Maggie;
Mark A., born September 23. 1878, married Lillie Brown, in 1904, and
they have two children, Herbert and Lucile ; Ella W., born December
13, 1881, now the wife of E. B. Mendenhall, farmer, Clark county,
Kansas ; Samuel P., a sketch of whom appears in this volume ; Earl G.,
born July 28, 1888. married Maud I'^uller, June 12, 1912, and they have
one child, Mary Xoline, born March 31, 1913, and Emma G., born De-
cember I, 1891. Mr. Wallingford is one of the old-timers in southern
Kansas, and is one of the well known and highly respected citizens of
Clark countv. He is a member of Major Elliott Post, Xo. 437, Grand
Army of the Republic, at Ashland, and is an elder in the Presbyterian
church.
James Samuel Hudson, a Kansas pioneer, now a prosperous farmer
and stockman of Comanche county, is a native of Missouri. He was
born in Audrain county, and is a son of Joseph H. and Nancy E. (Yates)
Hudson, the former a native of Pike county. Missouri, born February
17. 1856. and the latter a native of Kentucky. Joseph H. Hudson's par-
ents were \'irginians. He began life as a farmer and stockman in
Missouri, and in 1885 removed to Comanche county, and located on
Government land in Avilla township, being among the very first settlers
BIOGRAPHICAL 219
in that locality. These were trying times for the hardy settlers of the
plains, who were endeavoring to make a future home for themselves in
the development of the new country, which at times was discouraging
and seemed almost hopeless. For the first ten years of his life, in the
new country, Mr. Hudson and liis family lived in a sod house and en-
dured all the discomforts incident to their surroundings, but he
possessed the courage of the typical American pioneer and finally for-
tune smiled on him and he began to succeed, and added to his original
holdings until he owned quite a large acreage and raised cattle to a
profitable extent. He took an active part in the early affairs of the
county and for six years served as justice of the peace. In 1903, when
the Cherokee strip was opened for settlement, he went there and se-
cured several lots on the site of the present town of Alva, Okla., which
have since proven very valuable. In 1889 he moved there with his
family, and is now living retired. James S. Hudson is one of a family
of five children: .Anna Louise, born January 16, 1870, married George
E. Beeley, a retired farmer at Enid, Okla., and the}' have four children,
Roy, Ralph, Helen and Josie; James Samuel, the subject of this sketch;
Ollie Lee, born April 23. 1874, merchant. Gushing, Okla.; Elizabeth,
born April i, 1876, now resides at Kalispcll, Mont., and Joseph H., born
February 17, 1881, banker, Gapron, Okla., married Miss Florence Gon-
way, of Alva, Okla., and they have two children, Hazel and Elizabeth.
James S. Hudson received his education in the public schools of Missouri,
and attended school in Gomanche county after coming here with his
parents in 1885. His boyhood days were spent on the plains on his
father's ranch, and he remained at home until he was twenty-four years
old. By that time he had saved enough of his earnings to buy a farm
of his own, and in 1893 went to Oklahoma when the Cherokee strip
was opened, and took a claim, which he later sold, when he returned to
Gomanche countj', Kansas. He bought more land from time to time
in Gomanche county, and invested in the cattle business as fast as his
means would jjcrmit. and soon owned 6,000 acres of land, and was one
of the large cattle men of that section. He has since disposed of some
of his land, but still owns about 4,400 acres, where he carries on an ex-
tensive cattle business in connection with general farming. He has
been one of the most successful men of the county and his broad acres
arc among the most jiroductive in the State. His ranch is equipped
with all modern methods for convenience and the profitable conduct of
his business. Mr. Hudson was married at Medicine Lodge, Kans.,
September i. 1898, to Miss Mary Etta Reeley, daughter of Josejih Reeley.
of Orangeville, 111. Mrs. Hudson was born in .'^jiringficld, 111. Mr.
Hudson is a Democrat and takes an active interest in the political life
of his county and State. He is a member of the Masonic lodge and his
wife is a member of the Eastern Star. They are members of the Ghris-
tian church.
220 ■ BIOGR.\PHICAL
Aaron Sampson Drake. — Men capable of accomplishing great things
in the commercial or industrial world are like poets — born, not made.
Aaron Sampson Drake, distinctively, belongs to this type of men. He
was engaged in extensive business enterprises before investing in Kan-
sas. As early as 1881 he had the foresight to see the golden oppor-
tunity in the future of Kansas and had the confidence to invest in land
in this State. He bought a large ranch in Liberty township. Clark
county, where he now owns over 16.000 acres of improved land, which
he conducts as a stock ranch and raises horses and cattle on an extensive
scale. This is one of the largest stock ranches in the State. Mr. Drake
is a native of Massachusetts, and comes from sturdy Xew England
stock, of English descent. They trace their ancestry back to the same
family of which Sir Francis Drake was a member. Aaron Sampson
Drake was born at Stoughton. Mass., February 15, 1829. a son of
Ebenezer and Wealthy (Sampson) Drake, both natives of Massachu-
setts, the father being born at Sharon, Mass. He was a farmer by oc-
cupation, and died in 1872, at the age of eighty-five years. He was
twice married and reared eight children. Aaron Sampson Drake re-
ceived his education in the public schools of Massachusetts, and re-
mained in that State until He reached his majority. He then went to
\^'isconsin and was engaged in buying cattle, and supplied many of the
lumbermen of the Northwest with meat for two years. After that he
was engaged in bu3'ing hogs for the Boston market for a number of
years, and in 1862 engaged in the packing business at Detroit. Mich.,
and established the first packing house in that city. He conducted that
business for twenty-seven years and prospered, thus making his first
substantial start in the financial world. In 1885 he came to Kansas,
having purchased his Clark coimty ranch four years previously, and
since that time has devoted himself to his extensive stock business there.
Mr. Drake was united in marriage, March 6, 1855, to Miss Emeline
Jones. She died in 1858, leaving one child, Lelia, born June 20. 1857,
now the wife of ^^'illiam E. Moss, a prominent banker of Detroit. Mich.
They have two children. Edith and Helen. Although Mr. Drake has
passed the four score and six milestone, in the journey of life, he is
still a man of remarkable mental and physical vitality. He attributes
his longevity and good health to right living. He has always been ex-
tremely temperate in his habits, never having drank tea or coffee, nor
used tobacco in any form, nor intoxicating liquors of any kind. Mr.
Drake has been somewhat handicapped in later years by the loss of one
of his limbs, as the result of an accident which occurred at Detroit
in 1882. A horse which he was driving became frightened and uncon-
trollable, and in the mix-up one of Mr. Drake's legs was broken above
the knee and the knee was also fractured. The surgeons in charge of
the case made a strenuous effort to save the limb, but blood poisoning
and erysipelas set in, and an abscess formed in the injured leg, and
BIOGRAPHICAL 221
amputation was necessary. After a desperate struggle between life and
death for several weeks Mr. Drake finally recovered. For over two
weeks his physicians and family expected his death every hour, anci his
recovery under the conditions was a wonder to the medical profession.
One of the attending surgeons. Dr. M. J. Spranger. said. "The lungs
became paralyzed, and what was a peculiar feature, with a scalp wound
also which caused concussion of the brain, yet Mr. Drake's mind was
perfectly clear, his brain power bore him up and the temperate life ^hat
he had lived contributed to his power of resistance." This extraordi-
nary case may fairly be said to be a triumph of mind over matter, and is
characteristic of ^Ir. Drake's whole life and shows his indomitalile will
and resolute character, wliich ha\e been dominant factors of his success
in life
Charles Augustine Wallingford, senior member of the firm of W'alling-
ford Brothers, wholesale grain dealers and exporters, is a prominent
factor in the business affairs of southern Kansas. Mr. Wallingford was
born in Tolesboro, Ky., October 15, 1871, and is a son of Webster N.
Wallingford. a sketch of whom appears in this volume. Charles .X.
Wallingford came to Clark county, Kansas, with his parents in 1884,
when he was thirteen years old. He received his education in the public
schools of Kentucky and Kansas, and for a number of years was suc-
cessfully engaged in farming and stock raising, and later engaged in
the grain business. The Wallingford Brothers rank among the largest
grain dealers and exporters of the country. They export thousands of
bushels of grain directly to the European markets and have offices in
Ashland. .Sitka, Akers and Wichita. Kans.. and in Galveston and Xew
York. They are also extensive wlieat growers, having several large
wheat farms in Clark county, Kansas, which are operated directly under
their supervision. Charles A. Wallingford was united in marriage, June
II, 1899, at TIarvcl, 111., to Miss Mary Wright, who was born December
15, 1877, and died b'ebruar}- 24. 1914. at Wichita, Kans., and is buried
at .Ashland, Kans. There were no children born to this luiion, but Mr.
and Mrs. Wallingford adopted two children, Harold, born June. 1902,
and Mildred, born December 7, 1903. Mr. Wallingford takes an active
part in local public affairs, and was elected mayor of .Ashland in 1913,
and has conducted the municipal affairs of that city in the same business-
like manner characteristic of the masterful way in which he handles
his pri\ate affairs. He is one of the progressive citizens of Ashland,
and takes a commendable pride in his home town. He has one of the
finest residences tn be found in southern Kansas, lie is an elder in
the Presbyterian church.
Samuel P. Wallingford, one of the progressi\c business men of
\\'ichila, is the junior nuniijcr of the firm of ^^■allingf^>rd Brothers. He
is a native of Kentucky, born at Maysville, .August 10. 1884. and is a
son of Webster X. Wallingford. a sketch of whom appears in this
222 BIOGRAPHICAL
volume. He was an infant when his parents removed to Kansas and
settled in Clark county, where he received his early education in the
public schools, graduating from the Ashland High School in the class
of 1903, and later attended the Southwestern College, at Winfield, Kans.,
where he was graduated in the class of 1908, with the degree of Bachelor
of Arts. He then served as secretary of the Young Men's Christian
Association, at Winfield, Kans., and in 191 1 became a member of the
firm, Wallingford Brothers, and engaged in the grain business. Thej'
have had phenomenal success in that line of endeavor, and now rank
among the largest grain dealers in the State. Mr. \\'allingford was mar-
ried September 23, 1908, to Miss Gertrude, daughter of F. R. and Helen
Messinger, of Stanton, Mich. Mrs. Wallingford was born at Green-
ville, IMich., July 4, 1884. She is an accomplished musician, having
made a special study of the harp and and piano. She finished her musical
education in Chicago, and for three years prior to her marriage, was at
the head of the music department of the Southwestern College, Win-
field, Kans. To ^Mr. and Mrs. \\'allingford have been born two children:
Fred Messinger. born August 11, 1909, and ^lolly Katrina, born July
28, 1912. The Wallingford residence is at 1915 Gilman Avenue, Wichita,'
Kans. Mr. and Mrs. Wallingford are well known and popular in
\\'ichita society and have many friends.
John E. Todd, a prosperous cattle man and farmer, and one of the
extensive land owners of Comanche county, is a pioneer of southern
Kansas. He was born on a farm in Marion county, Indiana, March 21,
1857. and is a son of Isaac ^I. and Rachel (Brewer") Todd, both natives
of the Hoosier State. The father was born in 1826, in Marion county,
and followed farming all his life in that county. He died December 24,
1910. His wife, Rachel Brewer, was born in 1830. She was a daugh
ter of Samuel Brewer, a Kentuckian, and a pioneer settler of Indiana.
John E. Todd is one of a family of the following children: Lizzie (de-
ceased) ; Ella (deceased) ; Clara, now the widow of Col. Hanson ; John
E., subject of this sketch; Emma, wife of George Porter; Elmer (de-
ceased) ; Harry (deceased) ; Frank, and Samuel. John E. Todd spent
his boyhood days on his father's farm in Marion county, Indiana, and
attended the public schools. In 1882 he came to Kansas and bought a
farm in Bourbon count}', where he remained two years. He then sold
his interest there and removed to Comanche county, where he took up
Government land, ten miles south of Coldwater. Ten years later he
sold this property and bought a large tract of land, ten miles southeast
of Coldwater, and engaged in the cattle business very extensively. He
has 4.000 acres of land well adapted to the purpose of cattle raising, and
he has been very successful in that line of endeavor, and is one of the
large cattle men of that section. Mr. Todd is a Republican and since
coming to Comanche county has taken an active interest in politics
and public affairs. He was the first county assessor of Comanche
BIOGRAPHICAL 223
county, and has held various township offices on different occasions,
and in 1912 was elected a member of the board of county commission-
ers, and is now serving in that office. He was united in marriage at
Greenwood, Ind., April 7, 1879, to Miss Emma H., daughter of John
and Mary (Bradford) Herron, natives of Greenwood, Ind., and residents
of that place. Mrs. Todd was also born in Greenwood, February 20,
1857. To Mr. and Mrs. Todd have been born four children : Alma,
born May 20, 1888, married Xick Peppard, and they have three children,
\'erna. Elizabeth and John Todd ; Omer Herron, born May 20, 1882,
married Georgia Driker, October 20, 1913; Frank L., born May 20,
18S4. married Minnie Roswell, May 20. 1907, and they have four children,
Frances, Thelma, \^ernice and the baby, and Ralph Brewer, born May
20, 18P6. married Pauline Boswcll, October 20, 1912, and the}' have one
child, Xorman. Mr. Todd is a Thirty-second degree Scottish Rite
Mason, and the family are prominent in Comanche county.
Solomon A. Smith, a leading attorney of W'infield, has practiced his
])rofcssion in Kansas for over a quarter of a century. Mr. Smith is a
native of Illinois, born in Marion county. May i, 1853. Marion county.
by the wa}'. is the native county of W. J. Bryan. Solomon A. Smith's
parents were John R. and Marj' F. (Bronson) Smith. John R. Smith
was born in Marion county, Illinois, August 4, 1830, of Virginia parent-
age. He grew to manhood on his father's farm and followed farming
and stock raising in his native county until August 4, 1862, when he
enlisted in Company E, One Hundred and Eleventh Illinois infantry,
and served three years, to the day, receiving his discharge .\ugust 4,
1865. He participated in many important engagements and was witl;
Sherman on his memorable march, until the battle of Rcsaca, where he
was severely wounded, and after recovering sufficiently he was trans-
ferred to the Invalid corps, and assigned to duty at Camp Douglas,
Chicago, 111. This was in December, 1864, and he remained on duty
there until his discharge, at the time stated above. In 1869 he came to
Kansas with his family and after spending about a year in Miami and
\\'iIson counties, came to Cowley county, September 9, 1870, and located
on Government land, ten miles east of Winficld, where he was success-
fully engaged in farming and stock raising until T887, when he sold his
farm and removed to Winfield. He died at Dexter, Kans., March 14,
1907. His wife died in the same town, July 20, 1908. She was a na
tive of Tennessee, born at Lebanon. November 28, 1829, of Tennessee
parents. John R. and Mary F. (Bronson) Smith were united in mar-
riage at Salem, 111., Marcli 7, 1850, and to them were born eight children,
as follows: William M., born March 27, 1851, and died at Lawton,
Okla., July 20, 1914; Solomon A., whose name introduces this sketch;
Laura, died in infancy; Elizabeth. l)orn .April 25. 1857, and died Septem-
ber II, 1912; .\ddie. born October 29. 1859, now the wife of E. I. John-
son, Winfield, Kans.; Julin R.. Jr., born March 20, 1861, now postmaster
224 IIIOGRAPIIICAL
at Warner, Okla. ; Carrie Frances, born March 20. 18(17, now the wife of
Edward \\'att, Austin, Tex., and Charles M., born February 22, 1870.
died May 20, 1901. Solomon A. Smith came to Kansas with his par-
ents in 1869, and after receiving; a good public school education, at-
tended Flaker Universit}', Baldwin, Kans. He then followed teaching
about ten years in Cowley county, and during the last few years that he
was engaged in teaching, he pursued the study of law also, and in 1889
was admitted to the bar and since that time has been engaged in the
practice of law at ^^'infield. He has a large practice and is one of the
capable lawyers of southern Kansas. Politically, Mr. Smith is a Social-
ist, and a strong advocate of the principles of that party. In 1908 he
was the nominee of that part}- for Cnited States senator. He takes
an active part in public affairs, and for eight years served on the ^^'in-
field school board. Mr. Smith was married December 29, 1878, to
Miss Mary F., daughter of John T. Johnson, a native of Pennsylvania.
Mrs. Smith was born near Newman, 111., August 27, 1S54.
Til Mr. and Mrs. Smith have been born five children: Joe E., born
November 8, 1880; John Thomas, born July 9, 1884; Bernice L., born
January 22, i8go; Robert Bower, born January 8, 1896, and Earnest,
died in infanc\-.
Caleb W. Carson, a prominent business man of Ashland, and one of
the best known citizens of Clark coimty, is a native of Illinois. When a
}'oung man he left his native commonwealth to seek greater opportuni-
ties in the newer State of Kansas. His thirty years of effort in Kansas
has been rewarded with unusual business and financial success anrl
today he is one of the substantial men of the State. Caleb W. Carson
was born on a farm in Champaign county, Illinois, December 18, 1839,
and is a son of ^^'illiam G. Carson, a native of Vermilion county,
Indiana, born June 29, 1829. William G. Carson, whose father was a
native of Tennessee, devoted his entire active career to agricultural pur-
suits in Illinois and died in Champaign county, November 10, 1906. His
widow, who still survives, bore the maiden name of Martha Jane Bales.
She was born in Indiana and is a daughter of Caleb Bales, who was a
soldier of the War of 1812. To William G. Carson and Mary Jane Bales
were born ten children, four of whom died in infancy. The other six
are as follows: Emily Josephene, born November 10, 1857, now the
widow of Eugene A. Ford, who was a prominent lawyer of Garnett,
Kans., and died in 1895 ; Caleb W., the subject of this sketch ; Ellen A.,
married John T. Lee, a sketch of whom appears in this volume; Marcia,
born August 9, 1866, is the wife of D. P. Sims, a dentist, Lancaster,
Pa. ; Villa, born February 23, 1869, resides with her mother at Cham-
l)aign. 111., and William F., a salesman, resides at \\'oodward, Okla.
Caleb W. Carson received his education in the public schools of Cham-
paign county, Illinois, and later took a business course at Lawrence,
Kans.. which he completed in 1885, and the same year located in Clark
yV,l4>rUXIiA.<0-tf^,
nioGKAniicAr. 225
Cdiinty and en!jai;c(l in tlie real estate and Ifian business, a line of en-
deavor that has since enj^asjed his attention more or less. In 18S7 he
was ai)i)(Mnted postmaster of Ashland by President Cleveland and was
re-appointed to that office in 1894. serving eight years in all. For five
years he conducted a general store at Ashland, but continued his real
estate business at the same time. Today he is the largest individual
tax payer in Clark county, and its most extensive land owner. He is a
business man of good judgment and great enterprise. He is a man
capable of comprehending the possibilities of opportunity, whicli, with
his conscientious and honorable methods of doing business, has won
for him the great financial success which he has attained. Not only
through his identification with the commercial interests of Ashland, but
also through a close and deep interest in public affairs, has Mr. Carson
won a high place among the progressive, public spirited and successful
men of the State. Tic is a Democrat and has taken an active interest
in the policies of that party. He has been a member of the Ashland
board of education for several years and was elected mayor of Ashland
in 1910. serving one term. Air. Carson was united in marriage Marcli
Ti. 1886, to Miss Afattie Congleton. of Cham]jaign. Til. She is a native
of Kentucky, born in Nicholas county, August 24, 1859, a daughter of
Columbus W. Congleton, who was a Kentuckian and removed from that
State to Chamjjaign. TIL. with his wife and children and followed farm-
ing there the balance of his life. TTe was born in Nicholas county. T\en-
tucky, January 23, 1827, and died in Champaign county, Illinois. July ^.
1880. His wife was born in Bath coimty, Kentucky, Noveinber 25, T827.
and died in Champaign county. Illinois, in September. 1871. They were
the parents of eight children, as follows: Mollie, Rule (deceased"):
Anna (deceased) : T'^rank Pierce (deceased) ; Sarah, Mattie, now Mrs.
Carson; William C.. and F.lizabelh (deceased). IVTr. and Mrs. Carson
have five children, all of whom have received unusual higher educational
advantages and are well qualified for useful careers. They are in order
of birth as follows: Paul Congleton, born March 28, 1887. graduated
from Kansas University in the class of igii and from the Western Re-
serve Medical College, Cleveland. Ohio, in IQ14, and is now practicing
medicine in Cleveland. Ohio; ^^'illiam C. born January T3. 1889. grad-
uated from the Ashland High School and took a special course at the
Southwestern College. AA'infield, T\ans.. and is in the real estate, loan
and insurance business with his father in .\shland, Kans. TTe married
Miss r^ena R. Camp, of Spokane, Wash., ATarch 20. 1912. She is a na-
tive of Wallace, Idaho, born August 25, 1S88, and is a graduate from
the Kansas State Normal School. F.mporia. Kans., and was a teacher in
the Ashland schools for a year prior to her marriage. Frank Lee, was
born June 23. 1890, graduated from the .\shland High School and entered
Kansas University and was graduated in the class of 1913 and is now
connected with the Kansas National Rank, ^^'ichita. Kans.; Caleb ^^^,
226 BIOGRArHICAL
Jr.. the youngest son, was born Xovember 19, 1891, is a graduate of the
Ashlajid High School and won honors, both for himself and his county,
as one of the three representatives of the Ashland High School in the
State high school debate, held at Lawrence, in 191 1. The trophies of
the contest were a beautiful loving cup and a banner. The contest had
embraced all the high schools of the State and the final contest was be-
tween ^fontgomery and Clark counties, in which the latter carried off
the honors. Caleb W. is now a student in Kansas University and a
member of the class of 191 5. Hazel Ellene. the only daughter, was born
June 29, 1893, graduated from the Ashland High School in the class of
1912 and after attending college one year at Xorthampton. Mass., en-
tered Kansas University and is a member of the class of 1917. The Car-
son home in Ashland is one of the most beautiful residences in south-
western Kansas, and was erected at an approximate cost of $20,000.
Mr. Carson is prominently identified with the Masonic order, being a
Knights Templar, Thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Alason.
Alvah J. Graham, a prominent member of the Cowley county bar, and
a leading lawyer of southern Kansas, is a native of the Buckej'e State.
He was born at Canton, Ohio, June 26, 1867. and is a son of Dr. William
George and Fannie P. (Keyes) Graham. Doctor Graham, the father,
was a pioneer physician of Cowley county. He was born in Holmes
county, Ohio, April 16. 1842, a son of John and Alice (Finley) Graham,
natives of Ireland, the former coming to America at the age of sixteen.
He remained in Ohio until 1872, when he came to Kansas and located
in Cowley county, and died soon after coming here. To John and Alice
(Tinley) Graham were born the following children: John Finley, Dr.
AX'illiam George, Alexander- B., Thomas M., Aloses Asbury, Margaret,
Elizabeth Ann. Isabelle C. now the widow of J. R. Morgan, and Mary
A., the wife of G. X. Learey, \\'infield. They are all deceased except
Isabelle C. and Mary A., and all spent their lives in Cowley county,
where they settled in an early day and took up Government land. Dr.
\\'illiam George Graham was educated in Baldwin College, Eerea, Ohio,
and the Homeopathic Medical College, Xew York, graduating from the
latter institution in the class of 1866. He then engaged in the practice
of his profession at Ravenna, Ohio, for a time, when he went to Canton,
Ohio, and practiced until 1878, when he came to Kansas, first locating
at Leavenworth, where he remained one year. He then went to Cowley
county and located on Government land, and when the town of Win-
field was located and laid out his claim adjoined the new town. He
was secretary of the townsite company and took a prominent part in
the early day doings of that part of the State. He was one of the
organizers of the Settlers' Protective Association, a vigilance commit-
tee of that section organized for the mutual protection of settlers
against outlaws and Indians. He was the first ph3'sician to locate in
Winfield, and was the first coroner of Cowley cotinty, and his wife
BinGRArillCAL 22/
was the first white woman to permanently settle in that count}-. Doctor
Graham was mayor of Winfield for four years. He was a Knights
Templar Mason, and a charter member of all the Masonic bodies in
Winfield. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and
for many years was a member of the board of trustees of Southwestern
College, Winfield. He died at Winfield, January 2, 1914, and his re-
mains are interred in the Cowley Union cemetery, which is located on
his oritjinal homestead. His wife. Fannie P. Keyes, to whom he was
married at Ravenna, Ohio, in 1866, was a daughter of Alva E. and
Mary (Brown) Keyes, natives of New England. She was born at
Westfield, N. Y., Jnne 24, 1848. Alvah J. Graham, whose name intro-
duces this article, was educated in the public schools and Southwestern
College, graduating from that institution in the class of 1889. He then
entered the University of Kansas and was graduated in the class of
1891. with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He then engaged in the
practice of law at Guthrie, r)kla., where he remained about a year,
when he returned to ^^'infield, where he has since been successfully en-
gaged in the ]iractice of his profession and has Iniilt up a large practice.
Mr. Graham was united in marriage .'\pril 14, 1895, to Miss Julia O.,
daughter of Rev. John Boone and Sarah M. (\\'ard) Smith, the former
a native of Kentucky, and the latter of West Virginia. The father was
a Methodist minister, and a relative of Daniel Boone. He died at Win-
field, Kans., in .August, 191 1. To .Mvah J. and Julia O. (Smith) Gra-
ham have been born two children : Helen, born .September 5, 1898, is a
student in the Winfield High School, and a meml)er of the class of 1915.
and Elizabeth, born October 26, 1904. Mr. Graham is a charter mem-
ber of the Old Settlers' Association, and has served as president of that
organization. He is also a Knights Templar Mason and a member of
the Improved Order of Red Men, and is the great keeper of wampmn,
of the State lodge. Politically, he is a Socialist, and an ardent advo-
cate of the economic principles of that party. The Graham family con-
sisted of two children : .Mvah J., the subject of this sketch, and Ernest
R., born at Winfield. Kans.. March 5. 1873, and educated in the public
schools of Winfield and the Snuthwcstern College, and is now a Cowley
county farmer.
John Adams Lightner, an extensive land ouiicr, and one of the pros-
perous farmers of Comanche county, is one of the pioneers of that sec-
tion of the State. He is a native of the Old Dominion, born in Bath
county, Virginia, January 7, 1848, and comes from Old Virginia stock,
his parents, Jacob and Xancy Jane (\\'arwick) Lightner, being na-
ti\-es of that .State. Jacob Lightner was born in 1820, on the tild
Lightner lupniestead in P.alh county, and followed farming there all his
life, lie died December 18, 1886. His wife, Jane Warwick, was also
born on a farm in \'irginia. and her ])arcnts, Robert and Esther (Hull)
Warwick, were n;itivcs of the s;\me State. She died in her native State
228 BIOGRAPHICAL
in 187S. Thev were the parents nf the following cliildren: Malcena,
\'irgin,ia, JdIiii Adams. Robert \\'arwici<, Will Craig (deceased) ; Mary
Etta, Jacob Brown, Peter (deceased) ; James O. and George W., the last
named being deceased. John Adams Lightner spent his boyhood days on
the home farm in \'irginia. and received his education in private schools.
In early life he taught school about six years, and then was a sales-
man for a short time, and later engaged in the mercantile business at
Mill Gap. Va.. where he successfully conducted a general store for
twelve years. He also served as postmaster at Alill Gap. In 1884. be-
lie\'ing there were better opportunities in the ^^'est, he came to Kansas,
locating in Comanche county, where he took up Government land.
After a time prosperity knocked at his door, and he bought more land,
and continued to buy until he now owns 3.120 acres of some of the
most productive land in the State. It is located in a fertile region along
Bluff and Kiowa creeks, and his farm is all well improved. He raises
cattle on a large scale, and is also an extensive alfalfa grower, and has
met with a marked degree of success in that feature of farming. Mr.
Liglitner was united in marriage at ]\IcPherson, Kans., January 23,
1892, to Miss Myrtle Grumm, and they have one child, Virginia, born
in Comanche county, Janiiar}- 3, 1893. She is an accomplished young
woman and is a graduate of the Bucklin High School and Kansas Uni-
versity, graduating at the latter institution in the class of 1912. She is
a graduate pharmacist and has given special study and attention to
music and domestic science. Mr. Lightner has been a lifelong Demo-
crat, but is not inclined to look favorably upon yiolitics as a profession,
but ratlier as an incident to good citizenship. He is a student of men
and affairs, as well as books, and his hospitable home has an air df cul-
ture and refinement which impresses one with his distinct individuality.
John Gilmore Fulton, a veteran of the Civil war and Kansas pioneer,
has been a resident of the Sunflower State for more than a third of a
century. He is a native of Pennsylvania, born at Pittsliurgh. October
II, 1836, a son of James and Margaret (Gilmore) Fulton. The father
was also a Pennsylvanian, born at Philadelphia in 1800. He was a
wagon maker, and for several years was employed at his trade by the
United States Government in the Pittsburgh arsenal. He died in 1848.
Margaret Gilmore, his wife, was a daughter of Daniel Gilmore. a Penn-
sylvania pioneer, whose wife, when an infant, was taken captive by the
Indians, and was reared in captivitj' until she was eighteen years old,
and had no knowledge of her parents' names. She died November 3,
1803. at Cobden, 111. To James and Margaret (Gilmore) Fulton were
born the following children: Oliver P., Mary Ann. Xancy Jane, Caro-
line. F.lizalieth. John Gilmore. the subject of this sketch; Josephine,
Sarah. \\'illiam and Graham. John Gilmore Fulton's parents remox'cd
to Illinois in 1844. when he was seven years of age. This was a very
early day in the settlement of that State. They located at Duquoip.
BIOGRAPHICAL 229
The boy remained al home on tlie farm until the outbreak of the Civil
war. when he enlisted in Company J, Sixth regiment, Illinois cavalry.
He was sergeant of his company and served three years. His regiment
was attached to the Sixteentii army corps, under command of General
Sherman, but on account of illness Mr. Fulton was unable to participate
in Sherman's memorable march to the sea. For the first two years
and two months of his service he never missed a rollcall, but during
the last ten months most of his time was spent in a hospital. He was act-
ing lieutenant of his company for over a j'ear, and served in the capacity
of major during two engagements. He lost his right eye from an in-
jury sustained while in the service. He made a good militar}' record,
and after being honorablj' discharged at the close of the war, he went
to Cairo, 111., where he was engaged as a salesman for five years. In
1 88 1 he came to Kansas, locating in Sedgwick county, and was engaged
in farming near Wichita for three years, and the place where his farm
was located is now occupied by a large packing house in the suburbs
of Wichita. In 1884 he went to Comanche county, locating on Govern-
ment land, ten miles south of Protection, and engaged in farming and
stuck raising, and was very successful. In 1900 he retired and is now
living in Protection, and enjo3'ing well earned rest after an active and
successful career. He was active in the organization of Comanche
county and has always taken a keen interest in the public affairs of his
locality and has held various local offices. He is a member of O. P.
Morton Post, Grand Army of the Republic. Xo. 14, Joplin, Mo. Mr.
Fulton was united in marriage at Duquoin, 111., May 26, 1858, to Miss
.Sarah Flizabeth, daughter of Dr. Leo and Sarah Ann (Jones) Hamil-
ton, a native of Illinois, born December 23, 1840. Pier father was born
in Maryland in 1800, and died in Illinois in 1848, and her mother was
a native of Kentucky, born in 1806, and died in Illinois in 1844. Mrs.
Fulton was one of a family of six, as follows: Matilda Ann, Walter
I^., Sarah Elizabeth, Joseph F., Humphrey l'>.. and Lewis T. To Mr.
and Mrs. Fulton have been born six children: Ida May, born Sep-
tember 3, 1859. died January 20, 1863 ; Walter E., born December 28,
iSf'ii ; Chloe F., born .\ugust 3, 1863. died .\pril 20, 1864; Carl Frederick,
born June 13. 1866; Ethel F., born January 6, 1874, and Kenneth Hamil-
ton, born June 11, 1877.
Arthur Van Wey is a native of Illinois, born December 21, 1868.
whose parents were among the very early settlers of Coffey county,
Kansas. He is a son of Abram and Rebecca (Holland) \'an
Wey. The father was a native of Ohio, born in Allen county in 1816,
and the mother was a native of the same State, born February 24, 1835.
They removed to Coffey county, Kansas, in 1867, which was a very
early day in the settlement of that State. Here they located
on Government land, where they remained until 1883. when they re-
moved to Comanche cntuitv and settled on Government land, four miles
230 BIOGRAPHICAL
east of Protection. This was before Comanche county was organized,
and here the father followed farming and stock raising until his death,
September 20, 1898. He was a Democrat and a member of the Metho-
dist Episcopal church. To Abram and Rebecca (Holland) Van Wey
were born three children, as follows: Sanford, born October 14, 1861,
now a farmer in Comanche county; Abram, born May 20, 1863, also a far-
mer in Comanche count}', and Arthur, the subject of this sketch. Arthur
Van ^^'ey received his education in the public schools of Kansas, and
was fifteen years old when his parents located in Comanche county,
where he has since been engaged in farming and stock raising, where
he has become one of the prosperous and substantial men of the county.
He raises cattle and horses extensively. Mr. \'an \\'ey was married No-
vember 29, 1889, to Miss Jessie Amy, daughter of Walter L. and Violet
(Nail) Stewart. Mrs. Van Wey was born in Pennsylvania, December i,
1873, and came to Kansas with her parents in 1880. They located in
Sumner county. To Mr. and Mrs. Van Wey have been born three chil-
dren : Elmer Arthur, born June 18, 1893 ; Irtl-? Stewart, born October 21,
1894, and Henry William, born July 22, 1898. Mr. Van Wey is a member
of the Modern Woodmen of America, Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
and, politically, is a Democrat. The family are members of the Baptist
church, and well and favorably known in the section where they reside.
Edward Bell Payne, M. D., a well known and successful physician
of Fort Scott, is a descendant of pioneer Kansas parents. Dr. Payne is
a native of the Sunflower State, born in ^liami county, near Paola,
October 9, 1866. He is a son of Rev. J. M. and Mary A. (Cantell) Payne.
The father was active in the Methodist ministry for years, and is now
chaplain at the National Military Home, at Leavenworth, Kans. He is
a native of Indiana, and in early life removed to Illinois, and in the
spring of 1866 came to Kansas. His father, Gustavus Payne, was also
a native of Indiana, and came to Kansas about 1870, locating at Labette
City, where he was engaged in the mercantile business and farming
for many years. He died in 1904. Mary A. Cantell, Dr. Payne's
mother, is a daughter of Andrew Cantell, a native of Ireland. He lo-
cated near Pleasanton, Lynn county, Kansas, at an early day and was
engaged in teaching nearly all his life. Dr. Payne attended the public
schools in the various towns in Kansas, where his father was located
in the ministry, and in 1882 entered Baker University, at Baldwin,
where he was a student for three years. He then got employment in a
drug store at Girard, Kans., and while thus employed read medicine
under the preceptorship of Dr. Shell, about a year, and in 1886 entered
tlie University Medical College of Kansas City, where he was graduated
in the class of 1889, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He then
engaged in the practice of his profession at Galena, Kans., in partnership
with Dr. J. P. Schole, for a period of about six months, when Dr. Payne
returned to college, this time entering Bellevue Medical College, New
BIOGRAPHICAL 23 I
York City, and was graduated in the class of 1890. He then returned
to Galena, Kans., and was engaged in the practice of his profession
there for fourteen years. In 1904 he came to Fort Scott, where he has
built up a large practice and holds a place in the medical profession, as
one of the leading physicians of that section. Dr. Payne is a close
student of the science of medicine and has kept fully abreast with the
great strides that the profession has made in recent years. He takes
a commendable interest in public affairs, and in 1910 was elected coroner
of Bourbon county, and is now serving in that capacity. He has served
on the Fort Scott cit\- council, and while a resident of Galena was a
member of the school board for several years. He is active in the
broader field of American medical research, and in 1908 was a delegate
to the International Tul^erculosis Convention, held at Washington. D. C
He also takes a prominent part in the work of the Methodist Episcopal
church, of which he is a trustee and superintendent of the Sunday school.
He was a delegate to the general conference at Los Angeles in 1908.
He is a member of the Countj^, State and .American Medical Associa-
tions", and is a Knights Templar Mason and a member of the Mystic
Shrine. Dr. Payne was united in marriage July 6, 1898, to Miss Rose,
daughter of John Luckey, of Baxter Springs, Kans. Mr. Luckey came
to Kansas from Indiana in 1870, and made farming the occupation of his
life. Mrs. Payne was born in Kansas and educated in the public
schools. Dr. and Mrs. Paj-ne have one child, Mary Esther, a student
in the Fort .Scott schools.
John Davis Hunter, a well known successful physician of Fort Scott.
Kans., is a native of the Keystone State. He was born at Phoenixville,
Pa., June 23, 1873, and is a son of George A. and Emma (Quigg) Hun-
ter, both natives of Pennsylvania, and descendants of early settlers in
that State. Dr. Hunter received his preliminary education in the pub-
lic schools of his native town, and graduated from the Phoenixville High
School in the class of 1892. He then was a student in the University
of Pennsylvania for two years, and in 1894 went to Youngstown. Ohio,
where he studied dentistry for one year. In 1897 he came to Kansas,
locating at Fort Scott and was associated with an uncle, W. P>. Hunter,
in the drug business for four years, when he entered the University
Medical College, Kansas City, and was graduated in the class of 1905,
with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He was associated in the prac-
tice of his profession in Kansas City with Dr. S. C. James for two years,
and in 1907 located at Fort Scott, where he has since been engaged in
the practice. He is a close student of the science of medicine and
ranks as one of the successful physicians of Bourbon county. He has
given a great deal of attention to the surgery side of his profession,
and has been verv successful in that branch of professional work. He
is staff surgeon at Mere}' Hospital, Fort Scott, and assistant division
surgeon for the Missouri Pacific Railway Company. He is prominent
232 BIOGRAPHICAL
in medical societies, being a member of tlie County, State and American
Medical Associations, and has also served as secretary of the County
and Southeastern Kansas Medical Society. Dr. Hunter was united in
marriage October 24. 1906, to Miss Rena. daughter of Col. J. H. and
Laura (Lakin) Richards, both natives of Indiana. Col. Richards is a
prominent attorney and for many years was general solicitor for the
Missouri Pacific Railway Company. On account of failing health he
retired from that position and now resides at Fort Scott, Kans. I\Irs.
Hunter is a highly educated woman and prominent in social circles of
her home city. She was educated in the Fort Scott High School,
Baker University and the ^\'oman's College, of Baltimore. Md., grad-
uating in the latter institution in the class of 1904, with the degree of
Bachelor of Science. To Dr. and Mrs. Hunter have been born two
children: John Richards and Matsin Lakin. Dr. Hunter is a member
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he and Mrs. Hunter are
members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and take a prominent part
in the work of their congregation.
U. A. D. Collelmo, M. D., a well known physician and surgeon of
Pittsburg, Kans., is a native of Italy. He was born at \^iterbo, Italy,
^lay 5, 1867. Dr. Collelmo received an excellent education in the
schools of his native land, and later graduated from the University 0\
Rome and Pavia, in 1890. After graduating Dr. Collelmo traveled ex-
tensively in South America and after returning to his native country,
went to Australia. In 1894 he located in Detroit, Mich., and after prac-
tising his profession there for three years went to Ba}- City. Mich., where
he practised until 1908. He then located at Arapaho. Okla., and
a short time after came to Pittsburg, Kans., where he has since been
engaged in the practice of his profession. He has taken considerable
post-graduate work, giving special attention to surger\ and has made
a specialty of that branch of professional work for the past twelve years.
For a few years he was connected wMth the Italian Infirmary of Pitts-
burg, as surgeon, and in 1913 founded the Pittsburg Emergency Hospital
and Training School for Nurses. This is a regular chartered institu-
tion by the State of Kansas under date of December 6. 1913, and the
present directors are Dr. C. A. Dudley. Dr. M. B. Hartman, Dr. E. E.
Deal and Dr. E. Coffero. Dr. Collelmo is surgeon in charge, and during
his career in connection with this hospital he has performed a great
many delicate surgical operations in which he has been uniformly suc-
cessful. The institution is equipped with all modern methods of sanita-
tion and comfort, and is capable of accommodating twelve patients, and
is generally filled to its capacity. There are five nurses in charge of
the institution. Dr. Collelmo was united in marriage October 3, 1900,
to Miss Mary Louise Goe. of Fay, Okla., and to this union have been
born six children: Victoria. Angelina. Doleres. Ugo. John and Mer-
cedes. Dr. Collelmo is a Reiniblican, and in 1914 received the nomina-
BIOGRAPHICAL 233
tion of his party for coroner of Crawford county, and was elected by
a large majority. Me is a member of the United States Board of
Pension Examiners and a member of the County, State and American
^^edical Associations, being vice president of the county organization.
He also holds membership in the Modern ^^'oodmen of America and
the Owls.
J. F. Klaner, ]iresident of the Ellsworth-Klaner Construction Com-
pan}-, Pittsburg, Kans., is a typical representative of that type of men
who do big things. The Ellsworth-Klaner Construction Company is
engaged in strip ])it coal mining and is one of the first companies in south-
eastern Kansas to enlist the steam shovel method of carrying out this
project. Eor the benefit of those who are unfamiliar with the vai'ious
methods of coal mining, it may be stated here that the old-fashioned strip
IMt mining was done by teams and scrapers when the outcroppings of coal
were within a few feet of the surface. However, this style of mining was
never very profitable and therefore never carried on very extensively,
but when coal was located from ten to fifty feet beneath the surface of
the ground and the roofing, or rock, overla\-ing the coal was found to
be very shallow the question of mining l)y the underground method was
found to be expensive and dangerous, and it was out of the question to
remove the clay or "strip the coal" with teams and scrapers. Then
came the introduction of the modern method of removing this clay,
overlaying the coal, by steam shovels. The Ellsworth-Klaner Company
is (me of the pioneer companies to operate in southeastern Kansas by this
method, which they introduced about four years ago, and they are now
operating three steam shovels. Tn this method of mining, these steam
shovels are constructed especially for this ]iur]5ose, and are among the
largest to be found in the country — larger than any used in digging
the Panama Canal. Each shovel has a di]5])er capacity of five cubic
yards, operated with a ninety foot Ijnom and fifty-four foot dipper
stick, and the steam i)ower required to operate one of these shovels is
furnished by two 150 horse power boilers. The approximate cost of
one of these giant digging machines is $40,000, whicii includes the
freight charge and cost of putting the machines in position. The Ells-
worth-Klaner Company emj^lovs about 200 men in this method of min-
ing, and their daily output is from thirty to forty-five railroad carloads
of coal. Mr. Klaner, whose name introduces this article, is a native of
California, born in Placer county, January 11, 1877. He is a son of
Henry and Ann (Pf)min) Klaner, natives of Germany. The father was
a deep sea sailor and in 1848, when the vessel upon which he was sailing,
touched jjort at San Erancisco, he, like many others, abandoned his
regular vocation to join the army of gold seekers in the Sacramento \al-
ley. Eater he visited his native land, hut returned to California, where
he spent his life. J. F. Klaner received his education in the jMiblic
234 BIOGRAPHICAL
schools of his native State, and in early Hfe learned the blacksmith
trade, and became connected with mining projects in California and
Arizona in the capacity of master mechanic. He was employed at the
"King- of Arizona" mine two years, when he went to Cripple Creek
district and worked a mining lease on his own account, operating there
about three years, with a fair degree of success. He then operated for a
machine company for a time, when he entered the employ of the United
States Government as foreman in the Gunnison tunnel project, and had
charge of this work until 1906, when he took charge of the Central
Colorado power tunnels, at Glenwood Springs, Colo, as superintendent of
construction. In 1907 he accepted the position as superintendent of mines
for the Boston Consolidated, at Bingham, Canyon, Utah. In 1908 he
became associated with Mr. Ellsworth, in the construction business in
Utah and Colorado. They constructed the Rio Grande dam, one of the
largest projects of the kind in the State of Colorado. They did consid-
eralile other important construction work in the mountain states before
beginning operations in the southeastern Kansas coal field. About the
time that Mr. Klaner was operating in the Cripple Creek district, he
accepted a position from the Leyner Engineering Works as drill expert
in constructing the Pennsylvania Railroad tunnels under the North
river, into New York City, in connection with the construction of the
Pennsylvania depot there, but on account of the climate, and the nature
of the underground work so seriously affecting his health, he was
compelled to give it up within a few months and return to the West.
Mr. Klaner was united in marriage September 19, 1906, to Miss Nettie
Leabo, of Lathrop, Mo. They have one child, J. P., Jr. Mr. Klaner is
a member of the Southwestern Coal Operators' Association and takes
an active part in the work of that organization. He is a Thirty-second
degree Mason and a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of
Elks. In addition to his other vast interests and enterprises. Mr.
Klaner has a fine fruit farm, consisting of a twenty acre apple orchard,
at Honeyville, Utah. He is also a stockholder in the Mosida Fruit
Lands Company, of ]\Tosida, Utah.
Hon. Ebenezer F. Porter, State senator from the Ninth senatorial
district, Pittsburg, Kans., has for nearly a quarter of a century been one
of the powers and potential forces in business and in matters relating
to educational and material progress in that section of the State. He
has from an early age borne a large share of responsibility in the
management of his father's, as well as his own affairs and has had to
deal with large and important matters. Notwithstanding his large
sphere of activity, it can be said to his credit that he has never failecf
in any of his enterprises, Mr. Porter has gained the reputation among
his associates of going straight to the mark in any business affairs, and
with a definite goal for his efforts, he has never failed until he got what
he went after. .Although he has been concerned with several large in-
BIOGRAPHICAL 235
terests during his life, yet they have never been so wide of extent that
his energies have been diffused to the neglect of any detail. His friends
say of him that everything he does is thoughtfully planned beforehand,
and with a foundation well built his projects always rise to a successful
completion, but his intense energy and broad mind have ranged into
other fields than pure business and the entire State of Kansas will al-
ways regard him as the founder of a department of education which is
destined to exert a powerful influence on the life and industries of the
twentieth century. Senator Porter was born at New Salem, Fayette
county, Pennsylvania, July 14, 1859. I lis parents were Judge John T.
and I'lioebe Jane (Finleyj Porter, natives of New Salem, Pa. John T.
Porter was a merchant at New Salem and about 1860 removed to
Illinois, and sixteen years later to Iowa, where he resided until i88x,
when he went to Alabama and lived at Brewton and Montgomery. He
was one of the pioneer sawmill men of the South. In 1888 he went
to Florida, where he laid out the town of Grand Ridge, and engaged in
the manufacture of turpentine in connection with the lumber business,
and has since resided there. During Cleveland's first administration
he was ajjpointed United States commission for the district of western
Florida, and held that position until 1909, when he resigned on account
of ill health. Senator Porter, whose name introduces this review, was
educated in the public schools of Iowa, and after reaching his majority
engaged in the luml)er business at Clarinda. Iowa, and is believed to
have established the first yellow pine luml)cr yard in that State. He
also engaged in the grain business there and Iiad a branch at Hepburn,
Idwa. He remained in Iowa until 1885, when he disjiosed of his
l)usiness there and came to Kansas, engaging in the lumber business
at Wakeeney as manager of the Wakeeney Lumber Compafty. In 1888
he sold his interest in that yard, but remained at Wakeeney until 1890.
when he located at Pittsburg. Ever since 1885 Mr. Porter has been
interested in Mnrida timber i)roperty and devotes a great deal of his
time to looking after his vast interests there. In 1893 he became auditor
of tlie Casey-Lombard Lumber Company and later secretary and
treasurer of that company. He is one of the largest individual land
and lumber ciwncrs in the State of Florida, holding over 63.000 acres of
pine land, and he is also an extensive property owner in Pittsburg and
vicinity. In 1900 he was elected State senator from Pittsburg on the
Republican ticket and has served in that capacity ever since, his present
and fourth term in that office expiring in 1917. Dining that period Sen-
ator Porter has been active and influential in legislation. He introduced
the bill which pro\ided for manual training in schools of Pittsburg,
which was passed, lie also introduced the bill establishing the State
Manual Training Normal School, of Pittsburg, which carried with it an
ajipropriation of $18,000.00. and as a result of this legislation Senator
I'oiter is known as the father of the manual training normal school.
236 ■ lilOGR.VPHICAL
J-'oUowiiig the passage of this bill, the State in 1905 appropriated $35,000
for maintenance, and $10,000 for the purchase of suitable grounds for the
institution, and Senator Porter was influential in securing the appropria-
tion of $100,000 for the building which was completed in 1908. He has
served on many important committees and for years has been chairman
of the committee on mines and mining, and drafted many of the import-
ant bills in that field of legislation. He has served on the ways and
means, assessments and taxation, cities of the first class, educational in-
stitutions, labor, manufactures and industrial pursuits and railroads com-
mittees. Many important bills relating to laljor and labor interests
were introduced by him. Senator Porter is a member of the Masonic
order, the Knights and Ladies of Security, Fraternal Aid Society, Red
Men and Anti-Horsethief Association and for a number of years has
served on the school board of Pittsburg. Mr. Porter was united in mar-
riage February 23. i8cS2, to Miss Anna I. Berry, of Clarinda, Iowa.
Three children have been born to this union: Lillian (deceased) ; Harry
Huston, and Harold Berry. The family are members of the Presby-
terian church.
Howard R. Burnette, a Comanche county pioneer, who nobly con-
tributed his part in suliduing the stubborn plains of the West, and mak-
ing Kansas the great agricultural empire it is, passed to his reward at
his Comanche county home, February 16, 1899. He was born on a
farm in Iowa, October 23, 1858, a son of \\'illiam and Mary (Gorgess"^
Burnette, both natives of Indiana. The father was born February 29,
1828, and died at Melville, Mo., August 6, 1897, and the mother was born
August 17, 1832. They were married January 16, 1852, and nine chil-
dren were born to this union, as 'follows: Mary Emeline, born Feb-
ruary 12, 1853; George T., born November 23, 1856; Howard R., whose
name introduces this sketch; Charles M., born Januarv 6, 1861 ; William,
born May 12, 1863; James, born August 14, 1865; John W., born May
10, 1867; Edward D., born October 27, 1870; Rutie C. born January 10,
1873. Howard R. Burnette removed with his parents from Iowa to
Richmond, Mo., in 1867. He was then a boy of nine and attended the
jnibh'c schools of Ray county, remaining at home until 1887, when he
came to Kansas, locating in Comanche county. He took up Government
land, eleven miles east of Coldwatcr, and later bought additional land,
as he accummulated capital, until at the time of his death he owned
1,250 acres. His family has continued the business and continued to
add to their acreage until tiiey now own 3,600 acres, all in one body,
wp.U improved, which is one of the valuable farms of the county. Mr.
Bin-nctte was a prominent Democrat and always took a commendable
interest in public affairs. He held a niunber of township offices at dif-
ferent times, and served as county commissioner of Comanche county,
holding that office at the time of his death. He was a member of the
Independent Order of f^dd Fellows and one of the most valued citizens
niOGRAI'IIK'AL 237
of the county. He was married AFarcli 24, i8Sf'), to Miss Almira
Ellen, dauijhter oi John and Emerilas (Henderson) Jordan. John
Jordan was a nati\e of Ohio, horn in Jackson county, October
22. 1828. He died in Warren county, Indiana, February 20, 1907.
He was married September 30, 1850, to Emerilas Henderson, and to
them were born ele\en children, as follows: Clara Marion, Sarah
Maria. William Henry, Charlotte, John C, Emma, Miles L., Jessetta,
Cornelius \'., Olive, and Almira Ellen. To Howard R. Burnette and
Almira Ellen Jordan were born four children: Mary E., l)orn ^lay 16,
18S9, died July 27, iSSg; l^dna W., born December 21, 1891 ; Howard
R.. born October 28. 189.^. and John W., born Xovember 13, 1897. The
Burnette family are well kni:>wn in Comanche county, where they arc
|ir(iminent and have many friends.
J. Albert Gibson, ])resident of the Standard Ice i^ Fuel Company, of
Pittsbursj, Kans., is a representative of that type of business men who
have made southeastern Kansas the great industrial district that it is,
and the Standard Ice & Fuel Company is one of the important enter-
prises of the metropolis of that section. This company was incorporated
under the laws of Kansas. June 26, 1903. the first officers being J. A.
Gibson, president; James Patmore, vice-president, and M. S. Lanyon,
secretary and treasurer. Th.e company was capitalized at ,$50,000.00.
with a capacity of sixty tons of ice daily. Mr. ("libson has remained
president of the compan}^ since its organization, and at the death of Mr.
Patmore, Edward Nicholas succeeded to the vice presidency and at
the retirement of Mr. Lanyon. J. T. Stewart became secretary and
treasurer and now holds that position. The business of the company
has been successful from the start and the management has shown keen
foresight and capability, .^n important i)art of their business is the
icing of railway refrigerator cars. They furnish large quantities of ice,
by yearly contract, to the leading refrigerator lines of the country which
pass over the railroads entering Pittsburg. Tn 1909 their business had
grown to such an extent that it was necessary to erect an additional
plant I Ml the line <<i the Kansas City Southern Railway. This is known
as "Plant Xo. 2." and has a capacity of 75 tons per day and
the total output of their two plants is 135 tons daily, and they have a
storage capacity of al)oul 5.000 tons. J. .Mbert Gibson was born in
Richfield. \\'asliington county, Illinois, September 15, 1870. He is a
son of Samuel B. and Sarah C. (Hussey) Gibson, the former a native
of Illinois, and the latter of Ohio. In 1880 the Gibson family came to
Kansas, locating on a farm near Cherokee, Crawford county. Here J
Albert liegan his educational career in the district school and later at-
tended the Kansas Xormal .School, at Fort .Scott, and in 1891-2 he took
a course in Bryant & .Stratton's Commercial College, Chicago. 111. Me
then returned tn Pittsburg and accepted a position as bookkeeper in
the Xalinnal l!;ink nf Pittsburg, remaining in that capacity until i8()6.
238 niaGRAPIIICAL
when he resigned to engage in the grain and milling business, as a mem-
l)er of the firm of John R. McKim & Co. He was thus engaged for four
years when he disposed of liis interest in that business and again en-
tered the employ of the National Bank of Pittsburg, as teller and for
five years was connected with the bank in that capacity. During this
time he promoted and organized the Standard Ice & Fuel Company and,
as above stated, became its first president. However, he continued to
hold liis position in the bank until 1004, when he resigned, and since that
time has given the affairs of the Standard Ice & Fuel Company his un-
divided attention. He is interested in the First State Bank of Pitts-
burg, and is a member of the board of directors of that institution. In
addition to his industrial and commercial activity, Mr. Gibson takes a
prominent part in the public affairs of his city and county. Politically,
he is a Republican, and in 1912 was elected a member of the legislature
from the Twenty-first district and was active and influential in the
legislation of that session. He was a member of the legislative com-
mittees on cities of the first class, judiciary, manufacturing, mines and
mining, judicial apportionment and public utilities and was the author
of some important legislation now on the statute books of the State,
and in 1914 was elected to succeed himself. Mr. Gibson was united in
marriage, March 23, 1894, to Miss Eva, daughter of A. and Mary Bell
(Hyndman) Burns. The Burns family came from Sparta, 111., to Kansas
in 1882 and settled in Crawford county. The father was a furniture
mercliant in Illinois, and came to Kansas for his health and engaged in
farming. He served two terms as county treasurer of Crawford county
and was mayor of Girard one term. He is now living retired at Girard.
Mrs. Gibson was born at Sparta, 111., and educated in the public schools
of Kansas, graduating from the Beulah High School and later graduated
from the State Normal School, at Emporia, and taught school for a few
years in Crawford county. To Mr. and Mrs. Gibson have been born
three children : Helen Claire, a graduate of the State Manual Training
College, Pittsburg, where she specialized in music ; Eva Louise, a .grad-
uate of the Pittsburg Hi.gh School, now a student in the State Manual
Training College, and Grant Burns. Mr. Gibson is a Mason and a
member of the Mystic Shrine, the Benevolent and Protective Order of
Elks and the United Commercial Travelers. The family are members
of the United Presbyterian church, of which Mr. Gibson is an elder.
Ralph Warren Scott, proprietor of the "Rafe-Will Ranch." near
Mayo, Comanche county, is one of the largest ranch owners and most
extensive cattle men in southwestern Kansas. Mr. Scott is a native of
Ne\y Jersey, born on a farm near Trenton, August 5, 1857. He is a son
of Howell H. and Jane F. (Harding) Scott. Howell H. Scott was also
a native of New Jersey, born October 20, 1830. on the same place, near
Trenton, of New Jersey parentage. He was a farmer and a man of a
srreat deal of natural abilitv. He was a close student and a keen ob-
BIOGRAPHICAL 239
server of the affairs of every-day life, and a well posted man His wife,
Jane F. Harding^, was a daiipjhter of Ezekiel and Elizabeth (Fisher)
Harding, the former of French and the latter of Irish extraction. She
was born in New Jersey, September 8, 1829. and died at Timber I^ake,
Okla., May 27. 1906. She and her husband were both earnestly religious
and lived consistent Christian lives. They were the parents of seven
children, as follows: John N., born February 22, 1854. retired farmer
and minister, Paul's Valley, Okla., married Belle Sterling and they have
six children. Stanley, Chester, Nellie, Kessie. Anna and Marion; Abel
Elliott, born March 14. 1855, farmer, Elewellyn, Neb., married Salome
Vances. and they have three children. Ralph W'., Lilla and Eena ; Ralph
U'arren. the subject of this sketch ; Mary Isabel, born April 7. 1861,
married Otto Farmer, who died May 20. 1893. leaving five children,
Gertrude,- Anna May, Howell Scott, Martha and Lilla; \\'illiam Ferdi-
nand, born February 22. 1863, married Ethel Richey, and they have two
children, Genevieve, born August 30. 1903. and Mary Etta, born March
28. 1907; Lizzie, born May 20. 1865, died October 24. 1872, and Josephine
Johnson, born May 20. 1871. married Robert W. Bell, and they have
four children, Margaret, Helen, Daisy and Norman. Ralph Warren
Scott was reared in Illinois, where the family had removed when he was
a child, and educated in Ihc public schools of that State and Illinois
Wesleyan University. In 1878 he came to Kansas, where he remained
a short time, when he went west and was engaged in the mercantile
business in Colorado and New Mexico, and was also interested in pros-
pecting in that country for fifteen years. He met with remarkable suc-
cess in his enterprises and prospered. In 1893. when the Chernkcc strip
was opened, he took a claim in \\'oods county. Oklahoma, and in 1899
he and his brother. William F.. came to Kansas and bought 8.000 acres
of land in Comanche county, and engaged in the cattle business on an
extensive scale. The ranch derives its name froin the clever combina-
tion of the nicknames of the two brothers, Ralph and William, which
is of itself unique. This is one of the largest and best equipped cattle
ranches in the country. The ranch is stocked with Hereford cattle, and
there is never less than i.ooo head on the place. They also raise great
numbers of horses and swine. The partnership between the two
brothers continued uninterruptedly until 1914, when Ralph i)urchascd
the interest of William, the latter removing to Bentnnville. /\rk.. where
he engaged in business an<l R;ilph is now the sole owner and proj)rictor
of the "Rafe-Will Ranch." Raljih ^V. Scott, whose name introduces
this review, was united in marriage al .Vnthony. Kans., October 15. 1896,
to Miss Loretta. daughter of I'rederick and Phoeba (Carder) Merck, na-
tives of Gcrmanv. The father came to America at the age of eighteen
and spent his life in the mercantile business. He died December 20,
1907. Mrs. Scott was born at Millersburg, Iowa, November 23. 1869.
Mr. and Mrs. Scott have no children. Mr. Scott is a Democrat and has
240 BIOGRAPHICAL
been a member of the board of county commissioners of Comanche
county since 1896. In addition to his vast individual interests, Mr. Scott
is active in a number of other enterprises. He is a director of the
Farmers & Bankers' Life Insurance Company of Kansas, and president
of the Peoples' State Bank of Coldwater. Both he and his wife are
members of the Alethodist Episcopal church, and are active in the work
of the local cong^regation.
Addison Baker, registrar of deeds of Clark county, has been a promi-
nent factor in the public affairs of that county for over thirty years. He
was born at Amelia, Ohio, December 23, 1848. and is a son of Benjamin
J. and Lucy (White) Baker, the father a native of Harrisburg. Pa., born
September 18, 1822. of Pennsylvania parents. He was a carpenter and
millwright and followed that line of work throughout life, e.xcept dur-
ing the Civil war. when he served as sergeant of Company C, One
Hundred and Seventy-fifth Ohio infantry. To Benjamin J. and Lucy
(^^'hite) Baker were born three children, as follows: Addison Baker,
the subject of this sketch; John Ross, born in 1850, now a farmer at
Cuba, Ohio, and Frederick M., born in 1833, and now resides at Cincin-
nati. Ohio. The mother died in 1855, and the father married Susan
^^'olf and eight children were born to this union : Phoebe. Amanda,
Leonora. Mattie, Hattie, Alma, Grant, and Waldo, all of whom reside in
Ohio, except Grant, who is deceased. The father died at Greenfield.
Ohio, .'September 16. 1903. He was a very religious man and lived a
consistent Christian life. Addison Baker received his education in the
])ublic schools of Clinton county, (^hio. and at the age of eighteen en-
tered the employ of a mercantile house at Midland. Ohio, where he was
a clerk and served as postmaster for four years, when he engaged in
farming in that county for a few years. In 1872 he engaged in carpenter
work and-contracting, which he followed until 1878, when he entered the
employ of a gas company and was thus engaged for a few years. In
1886 he came to Kansas and located on Government land in the western
part of Clark county. The country was new and sparsely settled at that
time and he met with the \arious vicissitudes incident to early life on the
plain, and for tlie first nine years he lived in a dugout and was engaged
in farming and cattle raising and met witli a fair degree of success.
.Since coming to Clark county he has taken an active part in politics and
public affairs and is a strong advocate of the policies and principles of
the Republican party. In 1896 he was nominated by his party for the
office of clerk of the district court and was elected and was twice re-
elected to that office, serving eight years. In 1910 he was elected
registrar of deeds of Clark county and re-elected in 191 2 and has capably
filled that office. He has also held various township offices, and served
si.x years as a member of the .\shland school board and for the same
length of time was a member of the city council. Mr. Baker was mar-
ried at Wcstboro. Ohio. October 13. 1870, to Miss .Anna D.. daughter of
niOGRAI'lIICAL 241
William and Ann (Carter) Tloliday, a native of Clinton county, Ohio,
born February 8, 1852. Her parents were also natives of Ohio. To Mr.
and Mrs. Baker have been born nine children : Clarence, born July 20,
1871, died July 25, 1871 ; Francis A., born September 10, 1872, married
Mary Johnson. December 20, 1902; I.ucy, born May 20. 1874, died May
20. 1875; Mette, born November 3, 1877, married Thad Iledrick in igo2,
and they have six children, Dcvillc. \'erona, Robert, Carl, Anna and
Dorothy; Clayton, born December 20, 1880, married Minnie Knox, and
they have five children, Aneas, Cleo, Emily, Ona and Eva, the latter
two bcinij twins; William Asa, born July 29. 1884, married Maud Ken-
nedy, July 4, 191 1, and they have one child, Margaret Anna; Vernon E.,
born November i. 1886; John Harrison, born May 29, 1890, and Walter
E., born September 14. 1891. ^^'iIIiam .\sa and Walter E. are .e;raduates
of tlie Southwestern Colletje of Winfield, Kans. Mr. Raker and family
are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and he is a trustee of
the local church orsfanization and active in the work of the concjrega-
tion. He has been superintendent of the Sunday school since 1897.
Nathan Lindley, i)resident of The Farmers' State Bank of Protection,
Kans.. and lur over tiiirty years one of the successful farmers of
Comanche cou^t^^ is a nati\e of the Hoosier State. He was born on a
farm in Bartholomew county, Indiana, August 5. 1855, and is a son of
Charles ,and Zil])ha (Cox) Lindley. both natives of Indiana. The
father was born in Orange county in 1826. He made farming his life
vocation in his nati\e State, where he died October 8, 1893. He was
twice married, his first wife, Zilpha Cox, died in 1863, leaving five chil-
dren, as follows: Isaac C. Nathan, the subject of this sketch; Mary
F... Sarah A., and Charles E. His second wife was Elizabeth Morris
and to this marriage were born three children: William P., Zilpha and
Robert. The mother died in 1904. Nathan Lindley was reared to
manhood in Indiana, and received his education in the public schools.
In 1884 he came to Kansas, locating on Government land in Comanche
county, near where the town of Protection is now located. He has since
resided on his original homestead, to which he has added, from time to
time, imtil he now owns 2,500 acres of well imjiroved land. He also
owns considerable farm jjroperty in Oklahoma. He is one of the ex-
tensive stock men of Comanche county, raising large numbers of cattle,
hogs and horses, as well as carrying on dixersified farming on a large
scale. Mr. Lindley has always taken a keen interest in public affairs
and is a staunch supporter of the Republican party, but has never as-
pired to hold public office. He has many other interests in various en-
terprises in ad(litir)n to farming. He was one of the organizers of the
I'armcrs' State P>ank of Protection, which is one of the substantial
financial institutions of the county, and in 1914 he became its president
and now holds that position.
242 BIUfiRAPHICAL
Hon. Andrew J. Curran, district judge of the judicial district, com-
prising Crawford county, has been a resident of southeastern Kansas
since childhood. Judge Curran was born at South Haven, Mich., Sep-
tember 29, 1865, and is a son of John and Eliza (Judge) Curran, the
former a native of Count}' Down, Ireland, and the latter of the Province
of Ontario, Canada. The father was a millwright in early life, but later
devoted his life to agricultural pursuits. In 1871 the family removed
to Crawford county, Kansas, but Andrew J. remained in his native State,
where he attended the public schools until 1875, when he came to Kansas
and entered the Kansas Normal School, at Fort Scott, where he was
graduated in the class of 1888. He then taught school for three or four
j^ears, during which time he was principal of the Litchfield and Cherokee
public schools. During the time that he was engaged in teaching, he
was also reading law during vacations and at spare times during the
school years. In 1893 he matriculated in the law department of the
University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, Mich., and was graduated in the
class of 1895, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He then came to
Pittsburg, Kans., and engaged in the practice of law and shortly after-
ward became associated with his brother, John P. Curran, a personal
sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume, and the firm of Cur-
ran & Curran soon became thoroughly established and well known in
the legal world of southeastern Kansas. Judge Curran has ever been
an untiring student of the law, and his well balanced judicial mind emi-
nently qualifies him for the responsible judicial position which he holds.
In the fall of 1914 he was elected to succeed himself after a spirited and
hard fought campaign and the decisive majority with which he was re-
elected bears ample testimony of how the electors of Crawford county
regard his administration of the high office which he holds. Crawford
county, with its remarkable industrial activity, is unusual in the amount
of court lousiness disposed of each year, and Judge Curran's position in
the disposal of this vast amoimt of business is quite unusual in the
State of Kansas, inasmuch as he is almost continually on the bench and
from observations of the courts throughout the State it is a conservative
estimate to say that Judge Curran is, no doubt, the hardest worked dis-
trict judge in the State of Kansas. The dispatch with which he handles
the vast amount of business in his court would be a worthy object les-
son for many of the courts with congested dockets in the larger cities
throughout the country. Judge Curran was married December 24,
1908, to Miss Margaret M., daughter of Stephen P. and Susannah Rain,
of Crawford county, Kansas. Mrs. Curran is a native of Illinois and
came to Crawford county with her parents when a child, where she was
reared and educated in the public schools. She is also a graduate of
St. Joseph's College, Dubuque, Iowa, and of the State Manual Training
College, of Pittsburg, Kans., and for a number of years prior to her mar-
BIOGRAPHICAL 243
riage taught in the high school of Pittsburg. Judge Curran is a mem-
ber of the Renevoleiit and Protective Order of Elks.
John R. Morton, a well known successful stockman of Comanche
county, is a native of Missouri. He was born on a farm in Saline
county, Jul)' 31, 1877, a son of John R. and Sarah .\. (Plazel) Morton, the
former born in Poonc county, Missouri. January 4. 1839. His wife,
.'^arah Hazel, was also a native of Missouri, born in Cooper county, in
1844. The father was engaged in the mercantile business in early life
for a number of years at Gillham. IVIo., and came to Kansas in 1884 and
engaged in the mercantile business at the old town of Red P)luff, which
is now a part of Protection. He was one of the pioneer merchants there,
and he also took up Government land, near Protection. Tn 1904 he
went to Oklahoma, locating at Woodward, where he engaged in the mer-
cantile business and also invested quite extensively in land in that sec-
tion. \\'hile a resident of Comanche county he was prominent in local
affairs, having served on the board of county commissioners for six
years To John R.. Sr., and Sarah A. (Hazel) Morton were born nine
children, as follows: Emma, born Julv 9. i86fi; Joseph H. H., born
April 4, 1870; Warren P., born June 29, 1874; John R., the subject of
this sketch; Sarah E.. born July 11, 1881 ; Rolla H., born September 7,
1884; Robert E., Hazel, and an infant, deceased. The wife and mother
of these children died in 1S87 and the father married for his second wife,
Miss Alice Alexander, and they had three children : Mildred, Olive and
Augusta. The father died at Woodward, Okla., June 8, 1910. John R.
Morton, whose name introduces this review, was six years old when
his parents removed to Comanche county in 1884. He attended the
public schools and later graduated at the Salina Normal School, and
served one year as clerk in a law office. In 1904 he bought a large
farm, four miles east of Protection, w'hcre he has since been successfully
engaged in stock raising and diversified farming. Pie raises Hereford
cattle extensively and is one of the progressive farmers and stockmen
of that section. Mr. morton was married October 7, 1900, to Miss Laura
R., daughter of Mansel and Elizabeth P>arnes, pioneer settlers of
Comanche county. Mrs. Morton was born in Phelps county, Missouri,
August 28. 1882. To Mr. and Mrs. Morton have been born six children:
Hazel E., born August 21. 1901; Mansel Ray, born February 26, 1905;
Margaret Lorene, born January 13, 1907; Orlando Homer, born June 23,
1910; Viola Pauline, born January 6, 1913, and .Audrey Christina, horn
Xovember 15, 1914.
Charles W. Sherman, chairman of the board of county commissioners
of ("onianche count}', is an early settler of that county and has been
pri>mincntly identified with its affairs for over thirty years. He is a
native oi Ohio, born on a farm in Delaware county, May 3, 1856, and
is a son of Ira and Soi)hia (Reach) Sherman. The father was also a na-
tive of Ohio, born in Licking county, and comes from an old Ohio family
244 BIOGIt.\PHICAL
and is a distant relative of Gen. W. T. Sherman, whose career is well
known to every one familiar \\4th American history. Sophia Beach was
a native of Lewis coimty, New York, and belonged to an old Xew York
family. The father died in 1873 and the mother in 1904. They were
the parents of four children, as follows : Edward Beach, born in 1852,
died in infancy; Charles A\*., the subject of this sketch; Lucy Jane (de-
ceased), and Josiah R., a farmer in Major county, Oklahoma. Charles
W". Sherman was reared in his native State to the age of eight years,
when his parents removed to Cumberland county, Illinois. Here he
grew to manhood and attended the public schools and in 1885 came to
Kansas, locating on Government land in Comanche county, about ten
miles south of Protection. He followed farming tnitil 1891. when he
was elected registrar of deeds of Comanche count)', holding that office
fottr years, when he again engaged in farming, and is one of the success-
ful farmers and stockmen of the county. He owns over 1,000 acres of
well improved land, much of which is under a high state of cultivation.
He raises cattle, horses and mules on a large scale and has prospered.
He is a student of the science of agriculture and one of the best posted
men in his section. In 1912 he was elected a member of the board of
county commissioners for a term of four years. Mr. Sherman has been
twice married. On February 2, 1882, he was united in marriage to Miss
Ann Rains, who died November 28, 1884. Xo children were born to
to this tinion. On April 20. 1898, Mr. Sherman was married to Aliss
Martha L. Bolar. Four children were born to this union, as
follows : Roger Harry, Robert K., Grace Fay and Charles Glenn. Mr.
Sherman is a member of the IMasonic lodge, the Independent Order
of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Society of Friends.
Charles Lincoln King, a prosperous and progressive farmer and stock-
man of Clark county, Kansas, is a native of Illinois. He was born at
Toulon, 111,, September 26, 1864. and is a son of ^lilton P. and Mary
Ann (Lucas) King. The father was a Kentuckian, born in Estelle
county, Kentucky. January 24, 1818, of Virginia parents. He removed
to^ Illinois in 1838. locating in Stark county. Six years later he was
ordained a minister in the Christian church and was one of the pioneer
preachers of Illinois. In Xovember, 1864, he removed to Keokuk, Iowa,
and in 1898 went to Denver, Colo., where he died Xovember 5, 1902. He
had been retired from the ministry several years. He married Mary
Ann Lucas, January 17, 1855. She was a native of Mercer county,
Pennsylvania, born June 3, 1829, and a daughter of B. F. and Eliza
Lucas, natives of Pennsylvania. She was the youngest of a family of
nineteen children. To Alilton P. and Mary Ann (Lucas) King were
born nine children, as follows: Mary Elizabeth, born December 15,
1835; Cyrus F., born July 3. 1857; David, died in infancy; ^^'illiam, died
in infancy; Frank Eugene, born February 20, 1859; ]\Iilton P., born De-
cember ID, 1862; Charles Lincoln, the subject of this sketch ; Luella Jane,
BIOGRAPIIICAI, 245
born January 26, 1867, and Etta E., born December 8, 1869, died Octo-
ber 29, 1902. Charles Lincoln King came to Kansas in 1884 and the
following year located on Government land in the fertile Bluff valley,
in Clark county, which has since been his home. He engaged in farm-
ing and stock raising and prospered and now has one of the best im-
proved farms in that section of the country. He was one of the first
settlers in Clark county and has kept fully abreast with the development
of the country and has taken an active part in local public affairs. He
is a leader in modern agricultural methods and active in farmers' insti-
tute work and is a practical modern farmer. He feeds cattle and is a
successful breeder of Poland China swine. Politically, he is a Republi-
can and has held various local offices of trust and responsibility, hav-
ing been justice of the peace for the last twenty years. Mr. King was
married at Ashland, Kans.. January 26, 1886, to Miss Emma A. Mc-
Donald, and they have four children, as follows : Charles C, born De-
cember 30, 1886. married Rosanna Robeland, April 10, 1914 ; Alinnie L.,
born May 13, 1890, educated in the Kansas State Agricultural College,
Manhattan, married R. B. Coalscott, November 3, 1913; Nellie L., born
November 30, 1892, educated in the Kansas State Agricultural College,
Manhattan, and Maud L., born March 5, 1893. Charles Lincoln King
is one of the substantial men of Clark county, and has contributed his
part toward making that county the wealthiest in the State per capita.
The King family are members of the Christian church and prominent
in the cnmmunitw
Andrew Dunham Walker, of Holton, Kans., has been a ])romiuent
factor in the industrial. ])olitical and social development of Kansas, for
over forty }ears. He is a native of Ohio, born at Greenfield, Highland
county, September 25, 1848. He comes from stiu-dy Scotch ancestors,
who, with the courage characteristic of that race, braved the storms of
ocean and the vicissitudes of life in the new world, and established a
home in the wilds of \'irginia, nearly three hundred years ago. The
Walker family was founded in America by John Walker, a native of
Wigton, .Scotland, who left his native land in 1680, and went to Ireland,
where he remained until 1726. when he, with his wife and children, and
three of his brother Alexander's children, immigrated to America,
locating in Chester county. Pennsylvania. Shortly afterwards most of
the family removed to Virginia, and John Walker was contcm]ihitiug
such a move when he died in 1734. He married Katlierine Riuiierford,
a native of Scotland, born on the banks of the River Tweed. She was a
daughter of John and Isabella (.Mlein) Rutherford. She died in 1738,
and they were both buried at Nottingham Meeting House, Chester
coimty, Pennsylvania. .Xndrcw 1 ). Walker, the subject of this review,
is a son of John Unwell and Margaret I'.ay (Elliott) Walker, both natives
of Virginia. Jnhn IJnwill Walker was horn in Rockbridge county, Vir-
ginia, December >), 1805. lie was a son of John and Sally (Crawford")
246 BIOGRAPHICAL
A\'alker, tlie former born in Rockbridge county about 1764. and married
Sally Crawford, in 1797. He was a school teacher, and lived on \\'alker
Creek, \'a. (a stream which took its name from the W'alker family). He
remained there until 1814, when he removed to Ohio with his wife and
family. They settled in the wilderness, on the then, extreme frontier,
near Xew Petersburg, Highland county, Ohio. Here, John Walker and
his wife spent their lives. He died in 1825, and his wife's death occurred
three years later. This John W'alker was a direct descendant, being a
grand nephew of John Walker, of Scotland, above mentioned, who was
the founder of the family in America. John Howell Walker, the father
of Andrew D. Walker, was born December 9, 1805. in Rockbridge county,
\irginia, and spent his life in Ohio, after coming to that State with
his parents. He was prominent in Highland county and lived an unright
life. He was a strict adherent to the Presbyterian faith of his Scotch
ancestors, and was a strong anti-slavery and Union man, and the fact
that nine of his sons and sons-in-law, bore arms in defense of the Union,
during the Civil war, was one of the gratifications of his life. John
Howell Walker and Margaret Bay Elliott were married August 2, 1830,
and thirteen children were born to this union, as follows : Phoebe Jane,
married John Tudor, Highland county, Ohio; Sallie, married Louis P.
Tudor, who served in the Civil war, now deceased; William Elliott, mar-
ried Mary Strain, Greenfield, Ohio, a Civil war veteran, now deceased ;
Thomas Alexander, married Mary Jane Graham W^illiamson. was a
Colonel in the Ci\il war. and is now deceased; Hannah, was never mar-
ried, now deceased ; John Crawford, married Katherine Ammen, became
a Captain in the Civil war, now deceased ; Mary Adeline, married Dr.
Hugh S. Strain, was a surgeon in the Civil war, now resides in Rock-
bridge county. \^irginia ; Rachel Ann. married Richard L. Patton, who
served in the Twenty-fourth Ohio Battery during the Civil war, now
resides at Sabetha, Kans. ; James Howell was a Sergeant in the Twenty-
fourth Ohio battery, died November 8, 1864, from disease contracted in
the service; Samuel Johnston, was a soldier in the Civil war; Martha
Ea\inia, now deceased, married William Striblen, who was a Lieutenant
in the Twenty-seventh Regiment, Ohio infantry, serving throughout the
Civil war; Andrew Dunham, the subject of this sketch, and Joseph
^Montgomery, who died at the age of seventeen. Andrew Dunham
W alker was reared on a farm in Highland county, Ohio, receiving his
early education in the district schools, and later took a course in the
academy at South Salem, Ohio. In 1868, he came West, locating in
Douglas county, Illinois. He taught school there one year, and in 1872,
came to Kansas, locating at Holton. His first venture in the new coun-
try was in the mercantile business. He purchased a stock of hardware,
and for one year was engaged in the hardware business at Holton. Mr.
Walker had read law before coming to Kansas and pursued his law
studies in the offices of James H. Lowell and Charles Hayden. In 1874,
he was admitted to the bar and engaged in the practice in partnership
, BIOGRAPHICAL 247
with Charles Hayden, under the firm name of Hajden & Walker. He
had taken an active part in local politics, since coming to Jackson county,
and in 1875 was elected clerk of tlit District Court, being re-elected to
that office twice, serving in all three terms. lie also served one term
as Mayor of llolton during this time. He then resumed the practice
of law at Holton and was actively engaged in the practice until about
1900. For a number of years he was in partnership with James H.
Lowell under the firm name of Lowell & Walker. In i8(Sg. he was
ajjpointed by President Harrison, as a member of the committee for
the distribution and allotment of the Kickapoo and Pottowatamie Indian
lands. Mr. Walker served as railroad commissioner of Kansas for a
number of years. He was first elected by the Kansas State Executive
Council in March, 1901, and re-elected by said Council in March, 1904.
While serving in that office, the law was changed, making it elective,
after which he was elected for a term of two years, at a general State
election in November, 1904. In 1880, at the founding of Campbell Uni-
versity, at Holton, he took an active part in promoting tliat organization,
and served as president of the board of directors for a number of years.
In 1884, he became interested in the grain business and for several years
was one of the most e.xtensive grain dealers in that section of the State,
having elevators at Holton. Dcnison, Ontario, and Piancroft, Kans., and
,\rmour and Tate, Xeb. He has also been interested in several of the
leading financial institutions of the county. He was one of the organ-
izers of the First National Bank of Holton. and was a member of the
broad of directors and vice-president for a time. Lie was also one of the
organizers of the Kansas State P>ank of Holton, in which he was a
director a number of years. He has been an im])ortant factor in the
development of Jackson county, from many viewpoints. He founded the
town of Denison, and was one of the leading ]5romoters of Hoyt, Kans
Since coming to Kansas, he has been interested in the great industry of
the State, agriculture, and toilay owns several farms, and is one of the
extensive stockmen of the State. His "Bill Brook" farm is a model of
scientific arrangement, for dairying purposes, and is one of the best farms
in Jackson comity. His agricultural interests are not confined to Jack-
son county, as he owns large tracts of land in the southwestern ])art of
the State, in Meade county, which he is developing. Mr. Walker is a
strong advocate of irrigation in that section of the State, and iirobably
has done more to develoj) it within recent years than any other man.
He was married April 3, 1875, to Miss .\nna \i. Moore, of Pialdwin. Kans.
She was a native of Dillsburg, York county, Pennsylvania, and came to
Douglas county. Kansas, with her parents when a girl. She was educated
in Baker University, and died April 28, 1879, leaving two children as
follows: Paul Elliott, born August 27. 1876, now General .\ltorney for
the Ciiicago, Rock Island &: Pacific Railroad Company, and resides at
248 BIOGRArHICAI.
Topeka, Kans., and Anna Aloore, born May 28, 1878, died Jul}- 18, 1879.
J\[r. AX'alker's second marriage occurred, October 22, 1888. to Loula J.
Carr, daughter of Amos and Sarah (Price) Carr, the former a native of
Leesburg, \'a., and the latter of Carroll county, Ohio. Amos. Carr was
a teacher and surveyor, in early life, in Leesville, Ohio, and later engaged
in the mercantile business there, which he followed until his death in
1869. His wife died at I.ees\ ille, Ohio, in 1900. Mrs. Walker was born
at Leesville, Ohio, April 24, 1867, and was the youngest of ten children.
She came to Kansas in 1885. To Mr. and Mrs. Walker have been born
two children: Josephine, born September 19, 1889. She is a graduate
of the Holton High School and Kansas University, and Sidney Carr,
liorn September 26, 1893, has attended the Holton High School, the
Western Military Academy at Alton, 111., Kansas University, and is now
a student at Leland-Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif. The \\'alker
family are members of the Presbyterian church, and Mrs. Walker and
her daughter belong to the Daughters of the American Revolution. Mr.
Walker has been a life long Republican and prominent in the councils
of that party, both in the county and State. His fraternal affiliations are
with the Ancient P'ree and Accepted Masons, and the Independent (Jrder
of Odd Fellows.
Isaac Coslett, one of the first settlers of Harper county, Kansas, is
a native of ^\'ales, born August 21, 1849. He is a son of Thomas and
Mary (Morgan) Coslett, both, also, natives of A\'ales, the father born in
t8i8. and was an iron worker in early life in his native land. In 1862,
he immigrated to America, locating in Scranton, Pa., where he remained
until 1869, where he removed to Pittsburgh, Pa., where he also followed
the vocation of an iron worker. He died in 1888, from the effect of an
injury received in a steel mill two years previously, which rendered him
deaf and blind. The mother was born in 1826, and died in 1904. They
were the parents of twelve children, three of whom died in infancy. The
others are as follows: Thomas, born December 18, 1847, died in 1912;
Isaac, the subject of this sketch; Evan, born in 1851 ; .\nna, born in 1853,
died in 1902; Edward, born in 1855; John, born in 1857; Mary, born in
1S59; Elizabeth, born in 1861, and W'illiam, born in 1863. Isaac Coslett,
whose name introduces this review is a notable example of a self-made
man, and his success in life is due to his own unaided efforts. He began
work as a puddler in an iron mill, at the tender age of eight, and followed
that vocation until he was twenty-nine. In 1878 he came to Kansas,
locating on goxcrnment land, ten miles east of the town of Plarper,
Harper county. This was the year that Harper county was organized.
His original homestead is still in his possession, and he now owns over
1,000 acres of fine land, all under a high state of cultivation. He followed
farming and stock raising until 1907, when he retired and removed to
Harjjcr. While ^Ir. Coslett has been active in his private affairs, in
which he has been very successful, he has also taken a keen interest in
jjublic affairs, as well. He is a Republican, and prominent in the councils
BIOGRAPHICAL 249
of Ilis party in Harper county. In 1899 1'*^ ^'^''s elected county commis-
sioner, serving one term of three years. He has served as a member of
the Republican County Central Committee, and has been a delegate to
numerous countj' and State conventions. He served eight years as
trustee of Chicaskia township, and held the office of justice of the peace
for five j'ears. He is a stockholder in the Danville State Bank, of Dan-
ville. Kans., and was one of the organizers of The Farmers Alliance In-
surance Compan}- of McPherson, Kans., and has been one of its directors
since 1896. This company is now rated as one of the strongest mutual
fire insurance companies in the United States. Mr. Coslett was married
at Pittsburgh. I'a.. September 3. 1872. to Miss Margaret Ann, daughter
of Thomas and Jane ( Reece ) Thomas, natives of Wales. Mrs. Coslett
was l)orn in Pittsburgh. Pa., February 3. 1852. She died at Harper,
Kans., October 18, 1908, mourned by many friends. She was a deeply
religious woman, and lived a consistent Christian life. To Mr. and Mrs.
Coslett were born five children: Mary Jane, born December 27, 1873,
resides with her father; Evan, born April 21, 1S76, married Inza Sturns,
October 19. 1904, and they have two children, Ellen, born December 4,
1908, and Velma, born November 6. 191 1; \\'illiam, born June 2, 1880,
married Oscie Grime, July 10, 1907, and they have two children, Mar-
garet Ann and Fern; John Albert, born December 8, 1882; Edward Mor-
gan, born September 18, 1885, married Rose Doolin, February 22, 1908,
and they have three children. Glen, born April 2, 1909; Edward, Jr., born
May 26. 1910, and I'.lanche Maxcine, born July 10, 191 1.
Mr. Coslett is one of the substantial men of Harper county, who has
made good and earned the well merited success that has crowned his
efforts. He is a Royal .Arch Mason, and a member of the Methodist
E(»i-.i-i ipal church.
John Q. Brown, a ])ri)niiiient farmer and stockman of Xorthern Kan-
sas, is a native of Illinois. He was born in Pike county, October 13. 1848,
and is a son of Henry R. and Elizabeth J. (Chapman) Brown, the former
a native of Ohio and the latter of South Carolina. The father was exten-
sively engaged in farming and stock raising in Illinois, until the time of
his death in 1903. Henry R. Brown was of English descent, his father,
William Brown, being a native of London ,uh1 immigrated to America
at the age of twenty. John Q. Brown was reared to manhood in Pike
county. 111., and was educated in the public schools, graduating from the
high school. He then acted in the capacity of foreman on his father's
ranch for some time, and also engaged in farming on his own account.
In 1873. he engaged in general farming for himself in Illinois, remaining
there luitil 1886. when he came to Kansas, locating in Jackson county,
and i)urchased a farm adjoining the town of Wiiiting. He had purchased
160 acres before coming to Kansas and when he came here i^urchased
an additional 104 iii)on which his residence is located. Mr. Brown is
one of the successful farmers and stockmen of Jackson county, and in
the conduct of his farming and stock raising, follows scientific methods,
250 BIOGRAPHICAL
modified b}' the practical experience of a life-time in that line of work.
He makes a specialty of short horn cattle and feeds a large number for
market, shipping several carloads annually. He also raises a large num-
ber of Poland China hogs, and is also extensively interested in imported
Percheron horses, and, perhaps, has done more towards introducing and
promoting this high grade breed of draft horses in this section of the
State than any other man. Mr. P)rown was united in marriage November
26, 1873, to Miss Ella E. Eastman, daughter of Lycurgus and Rebecca L.
(Humphries) Eastman, the father a native of New Hampshire and the
mother of Massachusetts. Lycurgus Eastman was a wheel-wright in
early life in his native State, and in 1834, went to Illinois where he fol-
lowed his trade for a time. Later he engaged in farming and stock rais-
ing in which he was successful, and in later life retired and removed to
Griggsville. 111., where he died. He was an unright citizen, and lived a
consistent Christian life. He was a member of the Baptist church for
sixty-two years, twenty-five years of which he was a deacon, and super-
intendent of Sundaj' school. He died November 18, 1898, aged ninety-
one years, and his wife died in January, 1901. Mrs. Brown was born
in Pike county, Illinois, and was educated in the district schools and the
Ringsville High School, and taught school for a time before her marriage.
To Mr. and Mrs. Brown have been born six children : Alice E., born
April 28, 1875, married R. C. Jackman, farmer, Strawn, Kans., and they
have one child, Elsie Elizabeth ; Richard Eastman, born November 3,
1877, farmer in Jackson county, married Anna May Edds ; Jane Reliecca,
born June i, 1881. married Jesse E. Higby, who conducts a garage at
Whiting, and they have one child, Marjorie Alice; Mary Elsie, born
March 2, 1883, married James W. Martin, traveling salesman, Topeka,
Kans., and they have two children. Dorothy Virginia and Mary Lucile;
Edith Ella, born April 8, 1885, resides at home, and Elizabeth Jane, born
April 25, 1887, married Dr. Raymond S. Love, who is connected with
the People's Hospital, Chicago, 111. Mr. and Mrs. Brown are members
of the First Baptist Church, of Whiting, with which they have been
identified since coming to Kansas. In 1900, Mr. Brown was elected Sun-
day school superintendent, and has served in that capacity to the present
time. He has also been a trustee of the church for twenty-five years,
and is a member of the choir, and for a number of years has been choir
leader. He takes a deep interest in church affairs, and has always given
liberally to the support of the church, and it has been said that he is
the largest contributor to the church of which he is a member. He is a
close student of the Bible and a faithful follower of its teaching. Mr.
Brown is a strong advocate of good schools and for over twenty-four
years has been a member of the school board. He was one of the organ-
izers of the Farmer's State Bank of Whiting, and has served as vice-
president of that institution since its organization. He is a Republican
and has always consistently supported the policies and principles of
BIOGRAPHICAL 25I
that party, and takes a prominent part in local policies. His fraternal
affiliations arc with the time honored ^lasonic lodge.
Jeptha H. Davis, a leading farmer and stock raiser of Jackson county,
belongs to that class of agricnlturists who have largely contributed to
the up-building of this commonwealth, and made of Kansas the great
agricultural empire of the West. Mr. Davis is a Hoosier by birth, born in
Scott county, Indiana, April 13, i860. He is a son of Chester P. and
Hettie M. (Close) Davis, natives of Indiana. In early life the father fol-
lowed farming and stock raising in his native State, and was thus en-
gaged when the great Civil war came on, and like thousands of other
loyal patriotic boys he answered his country's call, and in 1862, enlisted
in Company F, Sixty-sixth Indiana infantry, and served until the close
of the war. After his discharge, he returned t<i his Indiana home where
he remained about a year, and in 1866, removed to Monticello, 111., where
he was engaged in the mercantile business for several years. lie was a
Republican and prominent in local and State politics. He was a member
of the Illinois house of representatives in the twenty-eighth general
assembly, from 1872 to 1874, and served in the Illinois State Senate in
the Thirtieth and Thirty-First General Assembly during the years
1876-1878, and 1879-1880. He was an active and influential member while
serving in both the house of representatives and the senate, and was the
author of many im])nrtant laws, now on the statute books of Illinois.
He was a man of strong personality and deep convictions, and was a
natural leader of men. Jeptha H. Davis, was a child <>{ six years when
his parents removed to Monticello, 111., and here he attended the public
schools, graduating from the high school. He then entered the Univer-
sity of Illinois at Chamiiaign, where he was graduated in the class of
1882, and later attended Union College of Law at Chicago, for one year.
About this time he was offered a position as manager of a farm for
William W'atson. near DeKalb, 111. This was the turning jxiint of his
career, and u]ion his decision depended whether his future should be that
of a lawyer or a tiller of the soil. He chose the latter, and has made
good. He remained manager for Mr. W'atson about three years, when
he resigned that position, and went to Ulysses, Xeb., in 1887. and in July
of that year became associated with the Hudson Ri\er Mortgage Com-
pany, of Kansas City. Mo., and was engaged in that line of wt)rk until
March i, 1893, when he purchased a 3,300 acre ranch in Jackson county,
Kans., seven miles north of Holton, the county seat, which is now known
as the "Davis Ranch." He at once engaged, extensively, in the cattle
business, buying large numliers of steers on the Kansas City market,
which he shipped to his ranch and fattened for market. This proved a
great success, and he followed this line on a large scale about ten
years. He then became interested in raising Hereford cattle, and in a
short time had as fine a herd of Herefords as could be found in the Slate.
He also continued buying and feeding cattle for market, and feeding as
many as a thousand head in one year. Mr. Davis has had phenomenal
252 BIOGRAPHICAL
success since coming to Kansas. As lie had but little capital when he
came here, he was obliged to assume a great deal of indebtedness in
order to handle a proposition of the magnitude which he undertook, and
at one time his total indebtedness was $120,000, but by 1902, this was all
paid, which reflects a great deal of credit on his capability and business
management. After 1904. he began to cut down on some of his business
operations, and has not been so extensively engaged in the cattle busi-
ness in recent years. However, he continues to keep a large herd of
short horn and Hereford grade cattle, and also raises a large number of
hogs, feeding as high as seven hundred in one year. ]\Ir. Davis was
united in marriage September 27, 1883, to Miss Ella M. Watson, daughter
of Wm. and Joanna M. (Curtis) Watson, of DeKalb county, Illinois. Her
parents are both natives of Massachusetts, and the father was a pros-
perous farmer in DeKalb county. He died in 1885, and the mother still
survives. Mrs. Davis was born in Kendall county. Illinois, educated in
the public schools and graduated from the DeKalb High School. She
then entered the University of Illinois at Champaign, where she was
graduated in the class of 1880, with a degree of Bachelor of Science. She
taught school before her marriage and was assistant principal of the De-
Kalb schools. To Mr. and Mrs. Davis have been born four children :
Marietta, Gertrude, Helen and Chester, all of whom are graduates of the
University of Illinois, and Marietta took a post-graduate course at the
University of California, Berkley, Calif. Mr. Davis is a Republican, but
has never aspired to hold political office. He is one of the substantial
citizens of Jackson county, where the family is well and favorably known.
Franklin Clark Pomeroy, a successful Jackson county farmer and
stockman, is a native son of Kansas. He was born in Grant township,
Jackson coimty, November 2. 1874, and is the son of John Franklin
Pomeroy a sketch of whom appears in this volume. Franklin Clark
Pomeroy received his preliminary education in the district schools of
Jackson county, and in 1891 entered Campbell University, where he was
graduated in the class of 1897, with a degree of Bachelor of Science, He
then returned to the home farm in Banner township, where he has since
followed farming and stock raising, and has met w'ith good success.
He has made a specialty of raising short-horn cattle and Poland China
hogs. He is also a cattle feeder on quite an extensive scale, and operates
770 acres of land. Mr. Pomeroy is a Republican, and takes an active
interest in political affairs. In 1904, he was elected to the Legislature
and re-elected in 1906, serving in two regular, and one special session.
He was a member of the Ways and Means Committee, during the session
of 1907, and the special session. He introduced the Road Drag bill, which
became a law. and w-as active in behalf of much other important legisla-
tion, including a primary election bill, which was defeated at that session,
but was later substantially enacted into the present primary law. At
this writing, 1914. ^Ir, Pomeroy is the Republican nominee for the State
legislature. He takes a sommendable interest in local affairs and has ,
BIOGRAPHICAL 253
served on tlie school board and is secretary of the Farmer's Institute.
Mr. Pomeroy was married in 1897 to Miss Margaret Scanlan, daughter .
of John and Emma (.\ddamson) Scanlan, of Holton, Kans. Mrs.
Pomeroy was born in Holton, educated in the public schools, and gradu-
ated from the Holton High School. She died April 7, 1900, leaving one
child, Mary Isabel, born August 29, 1898. On August 8. 1907. Mr.
Pomeroy married Miss Mable E., daughter of David A. and Lydia .\nn
(Thompson) Cook, the former a native of Xew York, and the latter of
Ohio. They were pioneers of Kansas, and came to this State in 1868,
settling in Pottawatomie county, where the father followed farming and
stock raising. Mrs. Pomeroy is the second of a family of four children.
She was born in Pottawatomie county and attended ihc city schools of
Onaga, and later entered Campbell University, graduating in the class
of 1897 with a degree of Bachelor of Science. She taught school for a
number of years in the grades and high school of Onaga, and held a
State certificate. To Mr. and Mrs. Pomeroy have been born two chil-
dren: Rose Mable, born January 14, 1909, and Frances Clarabcl, born
March 11, 1911. Mr. and Mrs. Pomeroy are members of the Methodist
Episcopal church, and he is a Thirty-second Degree Mason.
F. M. Pearl, ])ostmaster of Hiawatha, Kans., is a native of Ohio. He
was born in Perry county, October 20, 1864, and is a son of William A.
and Elizabeth (Studer) Pearl, both natives of Ohio. The mother was
born in Perry county of German ancestry. The Pearl family is of Spanish
origin, and the first record of their settlement in America was at Mar-
blehead, Mass., in 1671. William .A. Pearl, was a grandson of Captain
Xichols, an Englishman, who was a Captain in the Revolutionary war.
William A. Pearl was born in Morgan county, Ohio, March 17, 1836, and
when a young man went to Zanesville, Ohio, where he worked as a
journeyman cigar maker, and later engaged in the manufacturing of
cigars, until he retired from business. He now resides at El Reno. Okla.
His wife died in December. 1909. F. M. Pearl attended the district
schools in Perry county, Ohio, until he was fifteen years old and in the
spring of 1879, began work as a farm laborer, and the following year got
employment on a gravel train on the Pennsylvania Railroad, as water
boy, and worked at various odd jobs until the spring of 1885. In 1884,
he purchased a telegraph instrument, and at spare times studied teleg-
raphy, practicing on his instrument. He was working as a railroad sec-
tion hand at this time, and in January, 1885. the local railroad agent
taught him station work. In Jiuie, 1885. he took charge of a station and
followed railroad work in Ohio until September. 1887. He was then in
the employ of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company at Newark,
Ohio, and resigned to accept a position with the Chicago. Rock Island &
Pacific Railroad Company at Fairbury, Neb., which was the terminal
of that road at the time. December 15, 1887, he entered the employ of
the St. Joseph & Grand Island, as station agent at Fairfield, and re-
mained in the employ of this company in station wrirk. in various
254 niDGUAPHICAL
points until 1894. In 1891, while agent at Robinson, he began reading
law, and in November. 1894, soon after severing his connection with the
railroad company, he was admitted to the bar at Hiawatha, Kans., Judge
J. F. Thompson, father of Senator Thompson, presiding at the time. He
then engaged in the practice of law at Robinson, Kans., remaining there
until Xovember, 1898, when he came to Hiawatha, where he has since
been successfully engaged in the practice of his profession. Mr. Pearl is
a Democrat, and has always taken an active part in political affairs. He
has served as city attorney of Hiawatha two terms, and was county
attorney of Brown count\' one term, and while county attorney, he con-
ducted a campaign against joints, gambling houses and gambling devices,
with such vigor that it was but a short time, until Brown county was
free from lawlessness of that character. In 1909, he purchased the
"Kansas Democrat'" and reorganized that paper, and has since been its
editor and publisher. The "Democrat" is a live weekly newspaper, and
has a large circulation, and is now the official county paper of Brown
county. In 1902 he was the Democratic nominee for attorney general
and carried more than his party vote, but the overwhelming odds were
against him, and he lost in a hard fought campaign. In 1912, he was
floor leader of the \Mlson forces at the Hutchinson Democratic State
Convention, and brought in a minority report instructing the Kansas
delegates to the Baltimore convention for Wilson. In 1908. he was the
Democratic nominee of the First Kansas District, for congress, and in
1896. was elected delegate to the Democratic State convention, and has
been a delegate to every Democratic State convention since that tipie.
In 1908, he was chairman of the Kansas delegation to the National Demo-
cratic convention at Denver. In 1908 he was appointed local attorne}'
for the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company. Mr. Pearl was the original
promoter of the Brown County Telephone Company, now known as
the Northeast Kansas Telephone Company. This was in 1901, and' it
was the first telephone company in Hiawatha, and he has been secretary
and attorney of this company since its organization. He was also one
of the organizers of the Life and Annuity Association, and was its presi-
dent for a number of years. This is a fraternal insurance company, with
headquarters at Hiawatha, and has members in every State in the Union.
On January 12, 1914, -Mr. Pearl was appointed postmaster of Hiawatha,
and is now serving in that capacity. He was married April 2. 1892, to
Miss Cordelia, daughter of J. M. and Jane (Hobbs) Idol, of Brown
county. Kansas. The father is a prominent farmer and stockman, and
has been a member of the board of county commissioners, being the first
Democrat to be elected to that position in Brown county. Mrs. Pearl
was born in Walla Walla, Wash. Her father was a native of North
.Carolina, and mother of Missouri. They were married at White Cloud,
Kans., and about the time the Civil war broke out, they crossed the
plains with an ox team, and went to the Pacific coast, and finally settled
at Walla \\'alla. Wash. Thev returned to Kansas in 1868. Mrs. Pearl
BIOGRAIMIUAI. 255
was educated in the public schools of Kansas, and Caniphcli L'niversity,
Holton, and taut^ht school seven years before her marriage. To Mr. and
Mrs. Pearl have been born six children: Liicile, graduated from Mt. Saint
Scholastica's Convent, Atchison, in the class of 1912, winning the gold
medal for i)roficiency in music; Lenore, died at Albuquerciue, X. M.,
June 21, 1912, aged eighteen years, one month and three da\s ; Idol, a
student at W'entworth Military .\cademy, Wentworth, Mo. ; Sutro, Cor-
delia, and Francis, all attending the public schools. Mr. Pearl is a
Knights Templar Mason, and his wife belongs to the Eastern Star. The
family are members of the Eiiiscopal church of which Mr. Pearl is a
vestryman.
John H. Osborn, a i^rominent business man of Humboldt, Kans., is a
native of New York. He was born near Dundee, Yates county, October
26, 1830. His parents, IJenjamin and Debora (Paulding) Osborn, were
also natives of the F.m]Mrc State, where the father was a farmer. John H.
Osborn was educated in the district school and remained at home on the
farm until he reached his majority. He then learned the carpenter's
trade and while thus engaged the Civil war l)roke out, and on August 8,
1862, he enlisted in Company V>, One Hundred and Twenty-si.xth Regi-
ment. New York infantry, and on August 22, was mustered into the
United States service. His regiment participated in the battle of Har-
per's Ferry, and on September 16, 1862, the entire command was captured.
They were paroled in a short time, and sent to ,\nnaiH)lis, Md., and from
there sent to Chicago where they were re-instated in Xovember and re-
turned to the front. \\'hile at Union Mills. V'a., Mr. Osborn was taken
sick with measles and smallpox, and during this time the military authori-
ties sent for his brother to come and take him home, and the soldier boy
had no knowledge of this until it was all over, and on February 3, 1863,
he was discharged from the service on account of disability. He then
remained in New York State and worked at his trade until December,
iSfKj, when he came to Kansas, on a tour of investigation. He was favor-
ably impressed with the country and returned east, where he was mar-
ried and brought his bride to Kansas, reaching Humboldt, March 15,
1870. Ciarnett was the nearest railroad point at that time. Mr. Osborn
followed contracting and building at llumboldt for a time, when he
went to California where he remained about a year when he went to
Colorado. After spending eighteen months in that State he returned to
Kansas and was engaged in c<5ntracting until i886, when he became
manager for J. P. Johnson, of the Citizen's Lumber Com]iany. He pur-
chased the lumber business of S. A. Brown & Company, at Humboldt,
in October, 1888, which he conducted as an individual enterprise under
the title of the J. H. ( )sl)orn Lumber yard, until July 15, ujix;). when the
business was incorporated under the title of J. H. Osborn Lumber Com-
])any, with John H. Osborn, ])resident and treasurer, and J. P. Osborn,
secretary and manager. They are one of the largest lumber dealers in
that section of the -State, operating yards at Humboldt and Ciaructt. Mr.
256 BIOGRAPHICAL
Osborn has been acli\e in other important enterprises, as well as the
lumber business. He was one of the organizers of the Citizens State
Bank of Humboldt, and was its president for one year, when he disposed
of his interest in that bank. He was one of the original stockholders and
organizers of the Humboldt Vitrified Brick Company, and was also one
of the promoters of the Monarch Portland Cement Company, and the
Phmiboldt Portland Cement Company. Mr. Osborn takes a commend-
able interest in local affairs, and has served as treasurer of the Humboldt
school board for several years. He has also served two terms as a mem-
ber of the Humboldt city council. He is a Republican and takes an
active part in the party organization, and has been a member of the Re-
publican County Central Committee and a delegate to numerous State and
local conventions. Mr. Osborn was married at Washington, D. C, Janu-
ary 27. 1870, to Miss Anna J. Millard, a daughter of Squire and Emily
(Phillips) Millard, of Yates county. New York. To Mr. and Mrs.
Osborn have been born four children : Mary Ella, married John J.
Squire, farmer Allen county ; Edith ; John Paulding, secretary and man-
ager of the J. H. Osborn Lumber Company, and Emly Gertrude. Mr.
Osborn is a Thirtj'-second Degree, Scottish Rite Mason, and a member of
the Grand Army of the Republic. He belongs to the Christian Science
church. Mr. Osborn is still- actively engaged in business and is one of
the influential men in .\llen county.
Charles H. Olson, cashier of the La Harpe State Bank, is a native of
Iowa, born al Keokuk, January 9, 1872. He is a son of Gustave and ]\Iary
rjohnson) Olson, natives of Sweden who immigrated to America in 1869.
In 1874, they came to Kansas, and located in Jewel county, the father
taking a homestead in Center township where he has since been engaged
in farming and stock raising. \\"hen the Olson family settled in Jewel
county, that section of the State was the frontier of the west. The rail-
road extended, only, as far as Waterville. This was their nearest trading
and shipping point. Charles H. Olson began his education in the district
schools of Jewel county, and later attended the Mankato High School.
He then entered the Salina Normal LTniversity -where he was graduated
in the class of 1900. While a student at the Normal University, he taught
three terms of school, in order to get money to finish his education.
After graduating, he taught school a part of a term, but resigned to
accept a position with the Mankato State Bank. This institution was
re-organized while he was connected with it, becoming the Mankato
National Bank, and Mr. Olson became assistant cashier. He remained
in that position until January 15, 1905, when he became cashier of the
La Harpe State Bank. In fact he organized the La Harpe State Bank
while he was still connected with the Mankato National Bank of Man-
kato. The La Harpe State Bank was organized in December, 1904, with
a capital stock of $10,000.00 with the following officers: George F.
Fox, president ; John \\'. Laury, vice-president, and C. H. Olson, cashier.
BIOGRAPHICAL 257
and there has been nu change in the personnel of tlie officers since the
organizati^)n. Tlie l)ank began Inisiness Marcli 6, 1905, in a well equipped
banking building. This inslitulit>n has had a substantial growth since
the organization, and is under capable and conservative management.
The official report of March 9, 1914, shows the deposits amounting to
$86,786.45, with resources of $99,203.45. Mr. Olson was married January
5, 1910, to Miss Fk>rence Roe. daughter of William and Elizabeth (AIc-
Bride^ Roe, natives of I'ennsylvania, where the father is engaged in the
oil business, and where the family now resides. Mrs. Olson was reared
near Oil City, and educated in Grove City, and Pittsburgh, Pa. Mr.
Olson has had an extensive experience in the banking business and is
well (|ualified for the responsible position which he holds, and b_v his
straight forward methods has won the confidence of the business public.
He is a member of the Masonic Lodge, and both he and Mrs. Olson are
members of the luistern Star.
Herman Klaumann, who lor a number of years has been a prominent
factor in the commercial life of lola, Kans., is a native of Germany. He
was born in Rhincprice, Prussia, May 31, 185 1, and is a son of John
and Henrietta Klaumann, natives of Prussia. The father was a lock-
smith, and was employed by the Krupp Gun Factory, where he had
charge of a department. Jn the spring of 1857, the family immigrated to
America and settled at Muscatine, Iowa. The mother died August 3,
1857, a few months after reaching this country. After coming to this
country the family met with many discouragements. The father was
employed in a packing house and a saw mill for a time, at the meager
wages of fifty cents per day. He struggled along for a few years, when
he engaged in farming in Muscatine county and met with fair success.
Herman Klaumann attended the public schools until he was twelve
years old, when he went to Chicago alone, and his entire capital consisted
of tliirty-five cents. He secured employment there, in a grocery store
where he remained four years when a wholesale grocer, with whom he
had become acquainted, furnished him a stock of goods, and he engaged
in the grocery business on his own account, and for five years followed
that business in Chicago. Jle was there during the great fire of 1871,
and lived within two blocks from where it started. In 1879, Mr. Klau-
mann came to Kansas, and settled at lola where he engaged in the gro-
cery business. His store was located on the Northwest corner of Madi-
son and Washington streets, in a frame building 20.X40 feet. In 1881,
he built a two story brick building at the corner, where the lola State
Bank now stands, and in 1884, he added an annex to this building, which
was also occupied by his grocery business. His retail business grew to
large propr)rtions and lie added a wholesale and jiihbing department.
On May 23, 1899, he sold the business to his brother-in-law, H. W.
Steyer, who is still engaged in the business. Mr. Klaumann then engaged
in the wholesale produce business, as a member of the firm of Ri.xby &
258 BIOGRAPHICAL
Klaumann. This continued until kjoi. when he disposed of his interest,
when he engaged in the real estate and insurance business, to which he
has largely devoted his attention since. When the lola State Bank was
organized, he was one of the charter stock holders, and later bought a
large block of stock in the Gas City State Bank and became its president.
This instittition later liquidated its accounts and closed its business with
a clean slate. Mr. Klaumann has taken an active interest in many local
enterprises, and is ever ready and willing to contribute his time and
money to the betterment of his town and county. When the Allen
County Agricultural Society was organized, he was one of the first to
lend his aid and-intluence to the project, and has been a director of that
organization for years, and for fourteen years ha's been superintendent of
the Agricultural Building. He was one of the organizers of the Allen
Count}' Horticultural Society, and has served as its president several
terms, during its thirty years of existence. IMr. Klaumann was married
July I, 1875, to Miss Fredericka, a daughter of Conrad Steyer, a native of
Germany, who immigrated to America and settled at New London, Conn.,
where Mrs. Klaumann was born. The father was a cabinet maker, and
the family removed to Chicago at an earlj^ day, and Mrs. Klaumann was
reared and educated in that city. To Mr. and Mrs. Klaumann have been
born four children : Clara, graduated from the lola High School, Kansas
University, taught in the lola High School a short time, and is now the
wife of Prof. James \\'. Murphy, superintendent of schools, W'ashington.
Kans. ; Louis H., educated in the Tola High School and business college,
now cashier of the Farmers' Supply Company, Arcadia, Fla. ; Chas. H.,
a graduate of the Tola High School and Kansas University, now an in-
structor in the Salina High School, and Edward, deceased. ]\Ir. Klaumann
is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and has filled all
the chairs of that order. He is also a member of the Knights and Ladies
of Security, of which he has been financial secretary for a number of
years. The family are members of Christ Reformed church.
Benjamin F. Pancoast, a pioneer merchant of lola, Kans., who for over
fifty years has been engaged in the jewelrj' business in this State, was
born in Fayette county, Ohio. December 11. 1S33, and is a son of Shreve
and Polly (Myers) Pancoast. the former a native of Pennsylvania, and
the latter of \^irginia. both of Danish descent. The Pancoast family was
founded in America by Isaiah Pancoast in 1806. He had two brothers,
Jonathan and another brother, who afterwards became dean of a Phil-
adelphia medical college, and his sons are now- eminent surgeons. Jona-
than Pancoast was a brick mason and settled in Cincinnati. Ohio, when
that city w-as a mere village. Isaiah, the grandfather of Benjamin F.,
w'as a farmer and followed that occupation in Pennsylvania, and later
removed to Ohio. His son, Shreve, the father of Benjamin F., was also
a farmer. Benjamin F. Pancoast was educated in the public schools of
Ohio, such as they were in those days, and in early life learned the
BIOGRAPHICAL 259
jewelers' trade, and in 1859. came to Kansas, locating in Allen county,
where Tola now stands. He was a member of the Tola townsite company,
and one of the organizers of the town of lola. He located in Allen county
largely by accident. He and a cousin, A. L. Messmore, were on their
way south from Independence, Mo., and when they reached Allen county
they were favorably impressed by that locality, and as there were plenty
of government land there, they took claims and remained. When they
located in Allen county, there was a local debating society which held
weekly meetings in a log school house, and at the first meeting which
Mr. Pancoast attended, the society passed a resolution organizing itself
into a townsite company, and thus Mr. Pancciast became a mcmljcr of the
original lola townsite company. He was elected secretary of the com-
pany, and held that office until the affairs of the company were closed.
One of the quarters of land which the committee selected was owned by
J. F. Colbam, and the townsite was named in honor of Mrs. Colbam,
whose Christian name was lola. The company was limited to fifty mem-
1)ers, and each one was assessed $20, which gave the company a $i,ooo
capital. One of the first by-laws of the organization, required each mem-
ber to build a house on the townsite at a cost of not less than $300.00,
or forfeit his interest. Coffachiqui, an Indian trading post, two miles
south, consisted of about twenty houses, and the Indian agent there,
become a member of the lola townsite company, and was instrumental
in moving the trading post to the new town of lola. All goods and sup-
plies were hauled from Leavenworth, and the nearest railroad was W'ar-
rensburg. Mo., and mail was brought from Lawrence twice a week by
stage coach. Mr. Pancoast took an active part in the early development
of the new town. When the Tola Battalion was organized he became
its adjutant. Later this Ilattalion was consolidated with the \inth Kan-
sas Regiment, and as that office, was already filled he resigned and re-
turned to lola. In 1861. he went back to Ohio to visit his parents, and
about a year later returned to Kansas, locating at Olathe where he worked
at his trade until 1869, when he returned to lola and engaged in the
jewelry business, which has occupied his attention since that time. He
has been in business longer than any other merchant in lola. In addi-
tion to his business interests, Mr. Pancoast has been interested in other
local enterprises and has always endeavored to promote the best interest
of his city and county. He has taken a commendable interest in advanced
and improved methods fif horticulture, and was one of the organizers of
the .\llen Countv 1 iorticultural Society and has been its secretary since
organization. He is also a member of the State Horticultural Society,
and for the past two years has been trustee for the second district. Mr.
Pancoast was married in 1861, to Miss Mary Cowan, a daughter of J.
M. Cowan, a Kansas pioneer who located in Allen county in i860, com-
ing from Indiana. Mrs. Pancoast was reared and educated in Indiana,
and came to Kansas with her parents. To Mr. and Mrs. Pancoast have
26o BIOGRATHICAL
been bmrn four children; Lonie M.; Herman L., cigar manufacturer,
lola, Kans. ; Ernest L., jeweler. La Junta, Colo., and Milo B., automobile
machinist, Kansas City, Mo. During Mr. Pancoast's long career as a
merchant, he has gained many friends, and, b}- his upright business
methods has won the C(Tnfidence of the public.
William Albert Gilliland, a prominent farmer and stockman of Jackson
county, was born at Rockport, Mo.. June 22, 1859. He is a son of Josiah
and Delitha (Maxwell) Gilliland. the former a native of Beverly, Ohio,
and the latter of Ogle county, Illinois. The father spent his boyhood
days in his native State, and in 1855 went to Missouri where he owned
and operated a saw mill until the war broke out, when he traded it for
a farm in Nebraska, and removed his family to Illinois, and enlisted in
a ^lissouri regiment in which he served one year. At the close of the
war he returned to Missouri, where he remained until 1876, when he went
to Nebraska and settled on his farm which he operated, with success,
until 1900, when he removed to Auburn, Neb., where he now resides. His
first wife and mother of William A., died in Andrew county, ^Missouri,
in 1868. leaving three children as follows: William A., the subject of
this sketch ; Nellie, married Harry Rhoades, a successful farmer and
stockman of Howe, Neb., and Alida. married Andrew Speer, one of the
county commissioners of Atchison county, at the present time. When
\\'illiam A. Gilliland was a boy, his opportunities for obtaining an edtica-
tion were limited. He attended the district schools of Andrew coimty,
Missouri, such as schools were in those times on the frontier. The
school term consisted of only two or three months each year, which were
perhaps plenty under the circumstances, as the average pupil received
about all the "rod" he could stand during that period, and was perfectly
willing to "spoil" for the rest of the year. But )'Oung Gilliland made the
best of his opportunities, and at the age of thirteen was compelled to quit
school and go to work. In 1876, when the family went to Nebraska, they
found their farm encumbered by tax title, and he had to work as a farm
hand to help pay this off, and after that, gave his earnings to his father
to help support the family. At the age of twenty, he began life for
himself, as a farm laborer, and at the end of a year had saved $150. He
then began farming rented land, and during the first few years his pro-
gress was slow, on account of crop failures. In the fall of 1883, he
bought 120 acres of unimproved land which he improved, and built a
small house on it. He began in the stock business, in a small way, and
soon was making a specialty of raising cattle, hogs and mules, and fed
large numbers of cattle and hogs for the market. He prospered in his
undertaking and began to add to his holdings and it was not long until
he owned 362 acres of well improved land. He remained on this farm
until 1898, when he removed to Jackson county, Kansas, locating in Cedar
township, where he owns a 200-acre farm, which increases his acreage to
573 acres. In the spring of 1914, he gave each of his two sons, 120 acres
BlOGRAl'lIK AI. 261
which is valued at ?ioo. per acre. Since coming to Jackson county, he
has been engaged in the real estate business in addition to farming and
stock raising. Jn his real estate operations, he has been very successful
and been instrumental in bringing many substantial settlers to the
county, to whom he has sold farms. He is a strong advocate of good
schools, good roads and better farming. He is active in church work,
and while a resident of Nebraska, served as deacon and superintendent of
Sunday school. He was also an early advocate of the Farmers Institute.
He inaugurated the movement which led to grading a road from his farm
in Cedar township, to Denison. He had the road surveyed, and circulated
the subscription list to pay for the work, to which he contributed liberally
iiimself. He takes a foremost position in the community for commercial
and social improvement, and is one of the most public spirited citizens of
Jackson county. Mr. Gilliland, was married April 14, 1884, to Miss Lou
Emma Cummings, daughter of Thomas J. and Dorcus \'. (W'ilcox)
Cummings, the former a native of Ohio, and the latter of Indiana. They
were pioneers of Nebraska, settling in that State in 1865. Mrs. Gilliland
was born in Kosciusko county, Indiana, October 20, 1865, and was only
four months old when the family removed to Nebraska, and settled in
Nemaha county, where the father engaged in farming and stock raising.
When the (iilliland family located in Nebraska their place was near
where the Cummings family had settled. Mrs. Gilliland was educated in
the public schools, and engaged in the millinery and dress making busi-
ness in Auburn, Neb., which she followed until her marriage. Her father
died March 21, 191 1. and the mother now resides at Cral) Orchard, Neb.
To Mr. and Mrs. Gilliland, have been born four children: Roy Albert,
born September 17, 1886, was educated at the Kansas State Agricultural
College, Manhattan, and Campbell University, now a farmer and stock
raiser in Jackson county, where he specializes in raising Jersey cattle and
has one of the finest herds in the State. He was married December 30,
H)o8, to Miss (jertrude Lanning, and they have three children: Olive I^ou
Emma, Delia Leola, and Roy Albert, Jr. The second son, Charles
Henry, born August 8. 1888, was educated in the Kansas State Agricul-
tural College at Manhattan, and Cani|)hcll University, and is now a suc-
cessful farmer in Jackson comity. Delia Mae Gilliland was born July
29, 1891. She is a graduate of Cam])bell University and is now a teacher
in Xetawaka High School. Bertha Ellen, the youngest of the family was
born February 6, 1894, a graduate of Cam])bell University and is now at
home with her parents. Mr. Gilliland is a man of strong ])crsonaiity,
with a deep sense of right and justice. He loves industry and abhors
laziness. His sentiments as to the man who works is well expressed in
the following lines:
"It matters nut how rich or pi)or,
This is the future's great command,
Who does not work shall cease to eat ;
Upon this rock I stand.
262
BIOGRAPHICAL
The fruit of trees, the g'rain of fields,
\\'herever use and beauty lurk —
The good of all the world belongs
To him who does his work."
Orestes L. Garlinghouse, M. D., a prominent physician and surgeon
of lola, Kans., is a native of Kansas. He was born at Topeka, June 18,
1870. and is a son of L. B. and Matilda (Hanawalt) Garlinghouse,
natives of Ohio. The)- came to Kansas in 1864, and settled in Topeka
where the father engaged in farming and stock raising, and for a number
of years was land inspector for the Santa Fe Railroad Company. He
spent the latter part of his life in retirement in Topeka, where he died in
January, 1907. Dr. Garlinghouse was educated in the public schools,
\\'ashburn College and Baker University, graduating from the latter
institution in the class of 1892. He then attended the Kansas Medical
College, which afterwards became a department of Washburn College
for two years, when he entered Herig Medical College and Hospital, at
Chicago, where he was graduated with a degree of Doctor of Medicine,
in the class of 1899. He then engaged in the practice of his'profession at
Walcot, Kans., and while there taught one year in Hahnemann Medical
College. Kansas City. In 1900, he came to lola where he has since been
engaged in the practice. Dr. Garlinghouse is a close student of his pro-
fession, and in 1904, he took a post-graduate course at the Cook County
Hospital, Chicago, 111., and in 1910, took a course at Carleton College at
Farmington, Mo. In addition to giving close attention to his large prac-
tice, he is interested in a number of industrial enterprises. In 1901 he
built a large business block in lola, and was one of the organizers of the
Humboldt Refrigerator Compan}^ but has disposed of his interest in
that enterprise. Dr. Garlinghouse was married September 17, 1899, to
Miss Peale, daughter of E. S. and Rovia (Still) Clark. The former a
native of Canada and the latter of Missouri. Mr. Clark is an extensive
farmer and stock raiser in Franklin county, Kansas. Mrs. Clark is a
sister of Dr. A. T. Still, the founder of Osteopathy. Mrs. Garlinghouse
was born in Franklin county, and educated in the public schools and
Baker University, graduating in the class of 1894,' with the degree of
Bachelor of Letters, and was a teacher of art before her marriage. To
Dr. and Mrs. Garlinghouse have been born three children : Marjorie
Pearle, born July 25, 1900, Robert Orestes and Richard Earl, twins,
born March 19, 1910. Dr. Garlinghouse has been active in Y. M. C. A.
work and was one of the promoters of that organization in lola, and has
been a member of the board of directors ever since the association was
established there. He is a member of the County, State and American
Medical Associations, and Kansas Homeopathic Medical Association,
and was jjresident of that organization during the j'ears 1911-12-13. He
is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of which he is a trustee,
BIOGRAPHICAL 263
and his fraternal affiliations are with the Benevolent and Protective
Order of l-'.lks. and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Robert O. Christian, M. D., a prominent ph3sician and surgeon of lola
is a native son of Kansas. He was born in lola, December ii, 1878, and
is a son of James \V. and Jane Barbara (Steele) Christian, both natives
of Virginia. The family came to Kansas in i860, locating on a farm in
Allen county, near lola, and here the father was successfully engaged in
farming and stock raising until his death which occurred in 1888. The
mother now resides at lola. Dr. Christian was reared on the farm and
attended the ])ublic schools of Allen county until he was fourteen years
old. He then went to Iowa City, Iowa, where he attended school for a
time and later his mother removed to Emporia, Kans., in order that the
children might have better educational advantages, and Dr. Christian
attended the College of Emporia three j'ears. In 1898. when the Spanish-
American war broke out, he enlisted in Company I. Twentieth Regiment,
Kansas infantry, and served in the Philippine Islands with that famous
organization, for eighteen months, when he returned to his Kansas home,
after receiving his discharge in October, 1899. He then entered the
University Medical College, Kansas City, Mo., and was graduated in
the class of 1903, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. After serving
one year as interne in the University Hospital, Dr. Christian returned
to his home town, where he has since been successfully engaged in the
practice of his profession. In addition to his practice, he has been
interested in various enterprises and has invested extensively in real
estate. He owns six himdred acres of land in Allen county, and has
farm property in the irrigated district of Texas. He was a member of
the United States Board of Pension Examiners for a number of years,
and is local surgeon for the Santa Fc Railroad Company, and is also
medical examiner for the United States Marine Corps. Dr. Christian is a
member of the County, State and American Medical Associations, and the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a member of the Pres-
byterian church and his political views are Republican.
Herbert M. Webb, M. D., a prominent physician and surgeon of
Hunibiildl, Kan^.. i> a nali\e of Kansas. He was born at Ottawa, July
23. 1877, and is a sgn of M. O. and Annie (Fullerton) Webb, natives of
Maine. The father came to Kansas about 1873, and was a locomotive
engineer throughout life. He died in 1900. I lis wife, the mother of
Dr. Webb, i)assed away in 1887. Dr. Webb was educated in the public
schools of Ottawa and Osawatomic, graduating from the Osawatomie
High School in the class of 1893. '^"^ then learned the machinist's trade,
wliich he worked at until 1902. He then entered the Lincoln Medical
Cf>llcge, Lincoln, Nebr., and was graduated from that institution in the
class of 1906, with tiie degree «f Doctor of ^^edicine. He then located at
Humboldt, Kans., which has since been the field of his professional activi-
ties. Dr. Webb is a successful physician and has built up a large practice.
264 ' BIOGKAl'URA],
lie was united in marriage October 5, 1898, to Miss Blanche Fowler, of
(Jttawa, Kans. She is a daughter of A. S. and Harriett M. Fowler, natives
of P'enns}-lvania. The father was a blacksmith, and died when Mrs.
Webb was a child. Mrs. Webb was reared and educated in Ottaw-a,
Kans., and graduated from tiie Ottawa High School, in the class of 1897.
To Dr. and Mrs. Webb has been born one child : Jeanette A., a student in
the Humboldt schools. Dr. Webb is a member of the County, State and
American Medical Associations, and is a member of the United States
Pension Board, and is medical examiner for the United States Marine
Corps. He is a .Scottish Rite Mason, a member of the Ancient Order of
United Workmen, and the Eastern Star. Mrs. Webb is also a member of
the Eastern Star, and the family are members of the Methodist Episcopal
church. Dr. Webb takes an active interest in local affairs and is a
member of the school board of which he is president.
Joseph H. Hindman, M. D., a prominent member of the medical pro-
fession of Allen county, is a native of Missouri. He was born at Mem-
phis, August 18, 1872, and is a son of Rev. D. R. and Mary M. (Bohom)
Hindman, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Ken-
tucky. The father was a clergyman of the Presbyterian denomination,
and devoted his life to the ministry. He died March 11, 1908. In 1880,
the family came to Kansas, and settled in Ellsworth county, and here Dr.
Hindman began his education in the district schools. After obtaining a
good elementary education, he entered Park College, at Park\-ille, Mo.,
where he completed the prescribed course. He then entered the Kansas
Medical College at Topeka, and was graduated in the class of 1895, with
the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He then engaged in the practice of his
profession at Auburn, Kans., where he remained about a year, when he
removed to Admire, Kans., remaining about the same length of time,
when he went to Deerfield, Mo., and practiced eighteen months, when he
again changed his location, this time going to McAllister, Okla., as
l)hysician for a coal company. He remained there until January, 1901,
when he came to HumlDoldt, Kans., where he has since been engaged in
the practice of his profession. Dr. Hindman is a skilled physician, and
has met with uniform success. He was married June 4, 1895, to Miss
Elizabeth, daughter of John and Lucy (Danna) Stewart, the former a
native of Ohio, and the latter of Virginia. They were pioneers of Kansas,
settling in iVIlen county in 1859, where the father w'as successfully en-
gaged in farming until his death in 1897. Mrs. Hindman was educated
in the public schools of Huml)oldt and Park College, Parkville, Mo. Dr.
Hindman is a member of the County, State and American Medical Asso-
ciations, and is vice-president of the Allen County Medical Association.
He is a member of the Masonic Lodge, and he and his wife are members
of the Presbyterian church. ♦
Capt. Samuel J. Stewart, a Kansas pioneer and Civil war veteran, now
living retired at lluniljoldt, Kans., is a native of the Buckeve State. He
BIOGRArilR AI. 265
was born in Miami county, Ohio, March 28, 1833, a son of Jose])h and
Mary (Coe) Stewart. The tatlier who was a pliysician, was a native of
South Carolina, and was brought to Ohio by his parents when a child.
The mother was a native of Ohio. She died in 1835, when Samuel J., of
this review was two years old, and five years later his father died, leaving
him an orphan at the age of seven years. After the death of his father,
the boy went to live with an uncle, William Stewart at Champaign, 111.
Here he attended school and grew to manhood, and in 1855, went to
Lafayette, Ind., and worked for a brother, about a year, and in 1856,
he and his brother, Watson, came to Kansas, driving the entire distance
in a "prairie schooner." They settled in Allen county, south of where
Humboldt now stands, on Osage Indian lands. Here, Captain Stewart
engaged in farming and stock raising which has been the principal occu-
pation of his life. When he came to this State, the border warfare was
at high water mark. He was a pronounced free-State man and had many
exciting adventures in those trying times. \\'hen he and his brother
drove from Indiana, the}' had their household goods shipped to Kansas
City, and after reaching .Allen county, he sent a man with a team to
Kansas City after his goods, and when returning, the border rufKans,
under the notorious Allen McGhee cajitured the outfit at Westport, and
ordered the driver to leave town, who returned to .Allen county on foot.
When Captain Stewart learned of the incident he proceeded to Kansas
City, alone, and recovered one of his horses, the wagon and most of his
goods frt)m the bandits. This, however, did not satisfy him and six
years afterwards, while serving in the army. Captain Stewart located Mc-
Ghee, and called upon him personall)', and demanded satisfaction for the
wrong that had been done him. McGhee had no money, but he gave
Captain Stewart a gold watch which was valued at $200.00. This was
one of the many incidents of the border warfare which Captain Stewart
experienced. His early home in Kansas was among the Osage Indians
with whom he was very friendly, and he and his brother were adopted by
the tribe as brothers to Chief "Little liear." They frequently assisted the
Indians in their trouljlcs. and at one time, drove a band of horse thieves
out of the county, who iiad been stealing the Indians' iHinies. Captain
Stewart took a prominent ])art in tlie early lerrilinial politics, and in
1857, was elected a member of the territorial legislature, and served in
what was known as the first Free Stale legislature. He was a delegate
to the Free State Convention held at Grasshop]')er Falls, in 1857. This
was the first decisive move of the Free State men of the territory. In
those early days, he was closely associated with sucli men as I'lumb,
Ri)binson, Ponicroy and Lane. Up to 1861, CajUain Stewart had been
ke]jt busy with border ruffians and other incidents of pioneer life on the
plains and now another important duty confronted him. and in August.
1861, he enlisted in Company H. Fourth Regiment. Kansas infantry, and
was mustered in as first lieutenant of his company, and in l'\'bruary. 1863,
266 BIOGRAPHICAL
was promoted to Captain and mustered out with that rank in August,
1864. He served in the Fourth Regiment until the spring of 1862, when
the Third and Fourth Kansas Regiments were consolidated into the
Tenth Regiment, Kansas infantry, and served with that regiment until
he was discharged. A record of the service of these regiments is fully
set forth in another volume of this work. At the close of the war,
Captain Stewart returned to his Allen county home, and engaged in the
more peaceful pursuits of farming and stock raising until he retired in
1901, and removed to Humboldt, where he is now enjoying the fruits of
former well directed efforts. He has given his sons, each valuable farms,
and still owns three hundred and seventy acres of valuable farm land,
which is located in the oil belt of Allen county. The daily production of
oil on his farm is about five hundred barrels. Captain Stewart was first
married in December, 1864, to Miss \'ictoria L. Tinder, of Monticello, 111.,
who died in September, 1866. and in September, 1869, he married Miss
Emma Heath, of ]\Ionticello, 111., and to this union seven children were
born as follows : Charles A., who represents the Standard Oil Company at
Humboldt, Kans. ; AN'illiam \\"atson, engaged in the ice business, Chanute,
Kans. ; Lula, married C. H. Dickerson, resides on the home farm; Hattie
B., married R. M. Porter, cashier of the First National Bank, Humboldt;
Harvey H., Humboldt; Sadie, married W. J. Davis, farmer, Neosho,
Kans., and Effie. married Archie Pickle, St. Joseph. Mo. Captain Stewart
has been a life long Republican, and a consistent supporter of the policies
and principles of that party. He was elected State representative in
1882, and re-elected in 1885, and in 1900, was elected State senator from
the Fourteenth District, serving one term, and while a member of the
Hotise of Representatives and Senate was active and influential in the
legislation of those sessions. He served as chairman of the Roads and
I Bridges Committee while a member of the Senate and was instrumental
in changing the system of road taxation. Captain Stewart is a member
of the Christian Science church, and the Grand Army of the Republic.
He is past commander of the Humboldt Post, and was a delegate to the
national convention held at Detroit, in 1914.
Johnson W. Pettijohn, M. D., a pioneer Jackson county physician is a
native nf Ohio, lie was born at Sardenia, Brown county, Ohio, October
27, 1833, and is a son of William B. and Elizabeth (Johnson) Pettijohn,
natives of Virginia. The father was a pioneer of Ohio, and followed
farming in that State until his death. He was an old time Whig and one
of the early Abolitionists of Ohio. He was born in 1807, and died in
i860. Dr. Pettijohn spent his boyhood days on a farm and attended the
public schools of Brown county, Ohio, and after receiving a good prepa-
ratory education, he entered the medical department of the University of
Alichigan. Ann Arbor, Mich., where he began the study of medicine, but
finished his course at the Georgetown Medical College, Georgetown,
D. C. where he was graduated in the class of 1864, with the degree of
BIOGRAPHICAL 267
Doctor of Medicine. Shortly after graduating he was appointed assistant
surgeon in the United States Army, and later qualitied before the exam-
ining board, and was assigned to duty in the Nineteenth Regiment, Unit-
ed States infantry. On account of an attack of rheumatism, he resigned,
and entered the hospital service, and was assigned to Arlington Hospital.
He spent about two and one-half years in the service, resigning in the
fall of 1865, but was not relieved until the spring of 1866. He then located
at Lynchburg. Ohio, where he was engaged in the practice of his pro-
fession eleven years. In 1879, he came to Kansas, locating on a farm in
Jackson county, where he followed farming and stock raising, and at the
same time continuing the practice of his profession. He was the first
physician of the new town of Hoyt, and continued the practice there
with unqualified success until 1911. when he retired. He and his son,
William R.. have operated the farm in partnership since the boy finished
school. They have been extensive stock raisers, making a specialty of
Herefords for a number of years. They also raise a large number ot hogs
for the market. Their farm is located two and one-half miles west of
Hoyt. and is one of the model farms of Jackson county. Dr. Pettijohn
is a Republican and has taken an active interest in politics. He served
one term in the State legislature, but decided some years ago that a
political career was not to his liking, and he has refused to accept politi-
cal office in recent years. He was married in i860 to Miss Francis E.,
daughter of John and Rebecca (.Stone ) Ridings, natives of \^irginia, where
Mrs. Pettijohn was also born. The famil)- removed from \'irginia to
Hillsboro, Ohio, where the father worked at his trade, which was that of
a machinist. He built the first threshing machine which wa;^ manu-
factured in the West. He was also engaged in the mercantile business.
Mrs. Pettijohn was educated in the public schools of Ohio and the Hills-
boro Female College. To Dr. and Mrs. Pettijohn, was born one child.
William R.. a sketch of whom follows. The wife and mother departed
this life in 1906. She was a noble type of American womanhood and lived
a consistent Christian life. Dr. Pettijohn has been a member of the Inde-
pendent Order of Odd I""ellows for over forty years and is a Royal .Arch
Ma.son. He is a member of the County, State, and .American Medical
Associations, and holds membership in the Methodist Episcopal church,
of which he is a trustee.
William R. Pettijohn, a successful farmer and stockman of Hoyt.
Kans.. was born at Fincastle. Ohio. October 10. 1863. He is a son of
Dr. Johnson W. Pettijolin, a personal sketch of whom precedes this
review. He received his education in the public schools and later
entered Kansas .'^tate .Agricultural College where he remained one year,
and then attended Cam|)bell University at Holton. He then engaged
in farming and stock raising in partnership with his father, on the home
place near Hoyt, Kans. They have operated together, and have met
with good success, and rank among tiie progressive farmers and stock
268 BIOGRAPHICAL
raisers of Jackson county. Mr. Pettijohn has been active outside of the
field of agricultiiral endeavor, and in 1902, organized the Hoyt Tele-
phone Company, and is now the sole owner of that enterprise which is
a prosperous concern, with over two hundred telephones in operation.
The central exchange is located at Hoyt. He was one of the organ-
izers, and a member of the first board of directors of the Hoyt State
Bank, and is still a stockholder in that institution. He is also a stock-
holder in the Southwestern Blati Gas Company of Kansas City, Mo.
Mr. Pettijohn was united in marriage, September 13, 1893, to Miss
Anna R. Broderick, daughter of Case Broderick, a personal sketch of
whom appears in these volumes. Mrs. Pettijohn was born in Jackson
coimty, Kans., and is a graduate of the Holton High School and Camp-
bell Universit}-. ]\Ir. and Mrs. Pettijohn have one child, Ada L., a
student in Bethany College, Topeka, Kans. Mr. Pettijohn is a Republi-
can, and takes an active interest in local politics. He is a Scottish Rite
Mason.
Milton Smyth McGrew, M. D., a well known and successful Jackson
county physician, is a native of Ohio. He was born in Bowerston,
Ohio, ^lay 5, 1867, and is a son of Xathan L. and Sarah (Smyth) Mc-
Grew. The father came to Kansas in 1870, and engaged in the mer-
cantile business at Holton, which he followed until 1899, when he re-
tired. He died in 1902, and is survived by his wife. Dr. McGrew was
educated in the public schools of Holton and graduated from the high
school. He then attended Campbell University two years. He then
clerked in his father's store two years, .when he entered Hahnemann
Medical College of Chicago, where he was graduated in the class of
1891. with the degree of Doctor of ^ledicine. He then returned to
Holton and engaged in the practice of his profession, where he has
since remained. Dr. McGrew has a large practice and is a skillful
l^hysician. He was married August i, 1894, to Miss Gertrude, daugh-
ter of Frank and Julia (Hubble) White, the former a native of Penn-
sylvania and the latter of Kentucky. Mrs. McGrew was born in Hol-
ton and educated in the public schools of that cit3\ To Dr. and Mrs.
McGrew has been born one child, Xathan ^^'hite. born May 23, 1897,
now a student in the Holton High School. Dr. McGrew has served as
county physician of Jackson county for eight 3'ears. He is a member
of the Ancient Free and Accepted ^lasons, the Ancient Order of United
Workmen. Yoemen, Sons and Daughters of Justice, Fraternal Aid, and
the I^oyal Order of Moose. Mrs. McGrew is a member of the Pres-
byterian church.
Joseph M. Burns, a pioneer business man of Jackson county, was
born in Daviess county. Indiana, March 20. 1859. and is a son of Charles
R. and Emalie J. (Hasting) Burns. The father was a farmer and
stock raiser and when Joseph M. was four years old the family came
to Kansas and settled on the green rolling prairies where the father
BIOGRAPHICAL . 269
was engaged in faniiini; and slock raising for several years. He was
prominent in early day politics and was elected to the legislature from
Jackson county in 1871. He also served as township trustee and lield
other local offices. He retired from business in the sunset of his life,
and spent a few years in Hoyt. where he died in March, 1910. and
where his widow now resides. Joseph M. Burns began his education
in the subscription schools of the early days in Kansas, and later
attended the public schools, and he was a student at \\ashburn College
for a time. He then engaged in farming and stock raising in Jackson
county for four years, and about this time the Chicago, Rock Island &
Pacific Railroad was built into the town of Hoyt. There was a store
and post office named Hoyt, two miles west of the present town of
Hoyt, and Mr. Burns bought this stock and accepted the appointment
of postmaster, with the understanding that the post office should be
moved to the railroad. This was the beginning of the ]>resent town of
Hoyt, and his store building was one of the first, if not the first, build-
ing in the town. He continued in the general mercantile business there
three years when he sold out» and engaged in the grain business at
that point. 'J'here was no elevator at that time, and grain was loaded
direct into the cars from wagons. Mr. Piurns operated in this way
about five years, when an elevator was built, which he managed a few
years, when he engaged in the insurance and collecting business, and
about the same time, became assistant cashier of the Ho\-t State Bank
and served in that cai)acity for six or seven years. He is still interested
in the bank, and has various other local interests. He was married
July I, 1880, to Miss Susan E. Maris, daughter of L. D. and Sophrono
Maris, natives of Iowa who came to Jackson county- in 187Q, where
the father engaged in farming and stock raising. Mrs. Burns is a
native of Iowa and was educated in the jjublic schools of her native
State. To Mr. and Mrs. Burns have been born four children: Lewis
C, a sketch of whom appears in this volume; Reuben, an emi)loyee of
the United .States Express Com])any, Tojjeka, married Maggie O'Brien
and they have f)ne child, I'"lcnor lielle; Raymond, assistant cashier of
the Hoyt State Bank, and I'llenor, deceased. The wife and mother
departed this life January 20, 1903. On September 20, 1903, Mr. Burns
married Miss Clemnia Peyrouse, daughter of John and Mary I'eyrouse,
natives of Pennsylvania, who came to Kansas and located in Pottawa-
tomie coimty. Mrs. Iiurns was born in Pennsylvania and was educated
in the public schools of that State and Kansas. She taught school in
Pottawatomie county five years prior to her marriage. Mrs. Burns is
a nicnilH'r i>f ilu- Catholic church.
Lewis C. Burns, cashier of the Hoyt State Bank, Hoyt, Kans., was
1)orn in Jackson county, May 29, 1884, and is a son of Joseph M. Burns,
a sketch of whom appears in this volume. He spent his boyhood days
in Hoyt, and was educated in the public schools and Kansas State
270 BIOGRAPHICAL
Agricultural College at Manhattan. In the fall of 1902. he entered the
Hoyt State Bank, as assistant cashier, remaining in that position until
1907, when he became cashier and has remained in that capacity to
the present time. The Hoyt State Bank was organized in January,
1932, with a capital stock of $5,000.00, and it's first officers were : O. D.
Woodward, president; J. M. Woodward, vice-president, and C. M.
Woodward, cashier. In 1907. Jesse Lasswell purchased the controlling
interest in the bank, and became president. Frank H. Chase, became
vice-president, and Lewis C. Burns, cashier. On January i. 1913, W.
H. Lasswell, became president, the other officers remaining the same.
The bank owns its own building, and in 1908, the capital stock was
increased to $10,000.00. The Hoyt State Bank has had a healthy and
substantial growth since its organization. The first statement showed
its resources to be, $6,591.48 and the last official statement shows $126,-
892.63 resources, with deposits amounting to S105.817. 77. The officers
and stock holders of this bank represent some of the strongest men of
finance in Jackson county. In January, 1914, Mr. Burns became inter-
ested in the First National Bank of Mayetta, and is now a member of
the board of directors of that institution, and, although a young man,
he is considered one of the capable bankers in Jackson county. He
possesses that rare combination which might be called progressive con-
servatism, which seems to be a characteristic of successful bankers. Mr.
Burns was married May 29. 1908. to Miss Bess M., daughter of C. E.
and Jane Ketterman, natives of Ohio, who came to Kansas where the
father followed farming, and later was engaged in the mercantile busi-
ness at Hoyt. Kans. Mrs. Burns was born in Jackson county, and
educated in the public schools of Hoyt and Baker University, Baldwin,
Kans. To Mr. and Mrs. Burns, has been born, one child. Lewis Jean,
born November 16, 1912. Mr. Burns is a member of the Ancient Free
and Accepted Masons, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he and
his wife belong to the Methodist Episcopal church and Mrs. Burns
holds membership in the Eastern Star.
David Coleman, a prominent farmer and stockman of Jackson county,
is a native of Kansas, and descendant of pioneer parents. He was born
in Jackson county, March 24, 1863, and is a son of George and Elizabeth
(Boyce) Coleman, natives of England. They immigrated to Canada at
an early day and from there to Illinois. In 1855. they came to Kansas
and settled in Calhoun county, now Jackson, where the father engaged in
farming and stock raising, and was among the very early settlers of that
section of the State. He died in August, 1883. The Coleman family con-
sisted of seven children, of whom David was the youngest. He spent his
boyhood da3's on the home farm and attended the country schools. He
loUowed farming and stock raising until 1889. when he removed to Deni-
son and engaged in the grain and elevator business. He also carried on a
live stock business, buying and shipping stock in large numbers. He
BIOGRAPHICAL 27I
remained in the grain business until 1912, but since 191 1, he has resided
on his farm which adjoins the town of Denison. In 191 1, he enga,tjcd in
the dairy business in a small way, at first. He was successful in this
enterprise and the business developed rapidly and today he is one of the
most extensive dairy men in Jackson county. He has a large herd of
pure bred Holstein cows, and has equipped his place with all modern
methods and improvements for conducting dair\- business on an extensive
scale. In 1913, he built one of the most modern and complete dairy barns
in that section of the State, equipped with electric lights and all conven-
iences. In 1914. he bought back a half interest in the elevator and is
again conducting the grain business at Denison in connection with the
other interests. In 1908, Mr. Coleman become interested in the Denison
State Bank, and is now one of the directors of that institution. He was
married July 4, 1885, to Miss Lillie Ann, daughter of Alplus and Rosana
(Aker) Bainbridge. natives of Missouri. The father was a farmer and
stockman, and a pioneer of Kansas, coming to this State in 1856. He
was one of the early settlers of Jackson county where he resided until
his death, in January, 1895. Mrs. Coleman was born in Jackson county.
Kansas, and received her education in the public schools. Mr. and Mrs.
Coleman have five children : Walter Allen, a sketch of whom follows
this article; Roy David, a graduate of the Kansas State Agricultural Col-
lege; Darius B.; Noel E. ; and Gladys M. Mr. Coleman is a Democrat,
and was the first mayor of Denison. He is a progressive and public spir-
ited citizen and takes an active interest in all movements, tending to pro-
mote the Social or commercial betterment of the community.
Walter Allen Coleman, cashier of the Denison State Bank, was born in
Jackson county, May 12, 1886, and is a son of David Coleman, a sketch
of whom precedes this review. Walter Allen Coleman was educated in
the public schools of Jackson county, and graduated from the Denison
school, and after attending the State Normal School at Emporia, he took
a cf)mmercial course in the Central Business College of Sedalia, Mo. He
then worked in the Denison State Bank, as bookkeeper until 1906, when
he went to ^^'ann. Indian Territory, as cashier of The ^\'ann State Bank.
He remained in that position until A]iril. 1907, when he went to Coffey-
ville, Kans., as bookkeeper of the Peoples State Savings Bank, and on
December i, 1907, he returned to Denison and assisted his father in the
grain business until January i, 1909, when he became cashier of the
Denison State Bank and has since held that position. Mr. Coleman was
married June 2, 1909, to Miss Edith Artman, daughter of John S. and
Eva Artman, of Jackson county. Mrs. Coleman was l)orn in Jackson
county, and educated in the public schools and Cam])bell University',
being a graduate of the latter institution. Mr. and Mrs. Coleman have
one child. Howard. They are members of the Methodist Episc<")pal
church. Mr. Coleman is a Democrat, and has served on the city council
of Denison, and was acting mayor for six months. Although a young
272 BlOGRArmCAL
man. liis broad experience in the banking business, well fits him for the
responsible positiun which he holds.
George S. Linscott, president of the Linscott State Bank, of Holton,
Kan., was born in \\'ashington county, Iowa, November 4, 1868, son of
S. K. and Josephine (^Mallett'l Linscott. His father was born in Chester-
ville. Me., descendant of fine old Scotch-English ancestry. When only
sixteen years of age he left his native State and located in Illinois and
engaged in farming, but soon realized that an education was one of the
essential equipments for a man to succeed in the world, and went to New
"S'ork. where he entered Hamilton College. There he met and married
Miss i\l3ra Simmons. They came west and for some years engaged in
farming on an eighty-acre farm in Washington county, Iowa, raising corn
and selling it at ten cents a bushel, and fat hogs at $1.50 per 100 pounds.
During tiie Civil war Mrs. Linscott died, leaving a daughter, and Mr.
Linscott enlisted in the Ninth Illinois cavalry and served in Alabama
and Mississippi until the close of the war. After leaving the army Mr.
Linscott returned to Iowa and engaged in the mercantile business. In
1866. he married Miss Josephine Mallett. whose ancestors were Con-
necticut Yankees of Norman and English descent, and some of whose
relatives went to the Sandwich Islands as missionaries in 1820. Of
this union were born seven sons, six of whom grew to manhood. In
1872, the father sold his interests in Iowa and came to Jackson county,
Kansas. — before the railroads were built. Immediately he was ofTered
and accepted the position of cashier of the first banking house started
in the county. The ambition grew to have a bank of his own, and in
1874. he sold his interest in the Holton Exchange Bank and started the
lianking house of S. K. Linscott. For thirty-two years he was the able
e.xecutive of the bank and never gave up work, being actively engaged
until his death, December 11, 1906. Mr. Linscott had great business abil-
ity and foresaw the bright future of Kansas. He dealt largely in lands,
bought, farmed and sold many farms, principally buying the wild prairie
tracts in large quantities and breaking the sod and improving it, and
selling in small tracts. Always a pioneer- — to Illinois in 1853, to Iowa in
1858. and to Kansas in 1872 — in 1896, Mr. Linscott went to southern
Mexico and bought some 50,000 acres of land on the Isthmus of Te-
huantepec. Resides being a pioneer he was a progressive farmer, being
one of the first men to introduce thoroughbred Poland China hogs, Short-
horn and Jersey cattle and standard bred horses into Jackson county. He
loved horses and owned a number of good ones, among them being King
Sprague, 2:12: Dandy O., 2:11, and Otto W., 2 :i3i4- He was also one of
the first to introduce the growing of tame grasses in the county and was
among the first to plant alfalfa and demonstrate that it was a paying crop.
It produced for him ten and one-quarter tons per acre in one season, and
he was among the very first to use a silo, building one on "Hickorv Hill"
farm in 1887. W^e always look up to the men who accomplish things
rp '// (/'■
/(. J f/IXf//.
BIOGKAI'HUAI. 2/3
in tin's wiirkl, and Mr. I.inscott always was building up and improving.
He was a self-made man. having achieved success b)' his own efforts;
was self-educated, but never felt that the education was finished, for he
was a scholar to the end of his life, a reader and a thinker, and was re-
markably well posted. 1 lolton owes much to this great-hearted, generous
man, as many of its best buildings were built by him or through his
efforts, and he always encouraged all civic improvements and was a liber-
al contributor to them. In addition to the battle he fought for his own
success, he assumed all the indebtedness of his father, who lost heavily
in the panic of 1837. and did not rest until every penny was paid, which
was nine years after his father's death.
George S. Linscott accompanied his parents to Kansas when a young
child, coming into Holton on the first passenger train to reach that place,
and was reared and educated in Holton, graduating at Campbell Univer-
sity in 1886. After leaving school he entered the bank with his father,
and having a natural inclination to business soon learned business meth-
ods, and he was advanced from time to time from one position of trust
to another, serving as errand boy, assistant cashier, cashier, vice-presi-
dent, and after the death of his father was chosen president by the board
of directors, which position he is filling with marked ability and to the
entire satisfaction of all the stockholders.
Air. Linscutt is interested in farming, having spent five of his younger
years on a farm, and is proprietor of the Linscott Ranch of 800 acres
near Kansas City, and 2,900 acres in Texas, besides lands in Missouri
and Oklahoma. On December 31, 1891, at Farmington, Me., he was mar-
ried to Miss Minnie B. Linscott, a native of that city, and daughter of
Dr. J. J. and Rena C. (Hemenway) Linscott. Her father, besides being a
practicing ])hysician, was Democratic State senator, and her grandfather,
the late Josei)h A. Linscott, was cashier of the Sandy River national
Rank, then auditor and for many years treasurer of the Maine Central
railroad, and a member of the Governor's Council. He and the late S. K.
Linscott were cousins. To Mrs. Minnie B. Linscott belongs the honor of
having organized the Samuel Linscott Chapter, Daughters of the Ameri-
can Revolution, with the largest charter membership and the largest num-
ber of descendants of one person belonging to any one chapter ever or-
ganized anywhere, — this one having twenty-three descendants of Samuel
I^inscott among its charter members. To her also belongs the honor of
being descended from sixteen Revolutionary soldiers.
Ceorgc .S. ;ind Minnie B. Linscott have two children — Orena J. and
John S., I)otli students in the high school. The family are Methodists
and Mr. Linscott is a member of the board of trustees of that church,
having also served as ])resident of the building committee when the new
$25,000 church was built. He is also president of the board of education
of the city of Holton, treasurer and member of the board of trustees of
Campbell College, trustee of the Knights of Pythias lodge and also of
271 BIOGRAPHICAL
the Odd Fellows' lodge ; chief of the Helton volunteer fire company, and
trustee of the Firemen's Relief Association. He was one of the incorpor-
ators and directors of the Bonner Portland Cement Company, and later
was a member of the stockholders' reorganization committee ; and he was
secretary of the Jackson County iBuilding & Loan Association. He is a
director of the Kansas State Historical Society, a member of the National
Geouraphical Society, and also of the Sons of the American Revolution.
John G. Martians, of the firm, Dawson & ^Martlcns, well known real
estate dealers of Holton, Kans., is a native of Denmark, born February
26, 1863. He is a son of J. Gottlieb and Helena 'M. ^lartlens. The father
was a physician in his native land, where he died in 1870, and three years
later John G. Martlens came to .\merica with an uncle, and settled in
New York, and the mother and three sisters remaining in Denmark, and ,
the mother still resides on the home place in her native land. John G.
Martlens attended the public schools at Courtland and Tulley, N. Y., and
later attended college at Courtland, N. Y. He then took a course at the
\\'ells Commercial College at Syracuse, N. Y. He then entered the em-
ploy of the Solvi Process Company, Syracuse, N. Y.. in the capacity of an
overseer. He remained with that company about eighteen months, when
on account of failing health, he took a trip south. Later he returned to'
Syracuse, and was employed in an iron works, where he remained about
a year, but continued poor health necessitated another southern trip,
and after recovering this time, he located at Cincinnati, Ohio, where he
remained one year. In 1883, he came to Circleville, Kans.. and was em-
ployed by the railroad company- there, and he went to Finney county,
Kansas, with a view of homesteading, but was not favorably impressed
with that section of the country and returned to Circleville, where he
followed railroad work about four }-ears. He then bought a farm of
eighty acres in Grant township. Jackson county, and engaged in farming
and stock raising, and soon increased his holdings until he had 180 acres.
He remained on his farm until February, 19 11, when he removed to
Holton and formed a partnership with Mr. Dawson which has since con-
tinued. They have been very successful in their operations, and are
among the leading real estate dealers of Jackson county. Mr. Martlens
owns a number of fine farms in Jackson county, as well as in other parts
of the State. He was united in marriage February 24, 1891, to Miss Mat-
tie E. Hamm. a daughter of R. P. Hamm, a personal sketch of whom
appears in this volume. Mrs. Martlens was born in Jackson county and
educated in the public schools. Mr. and Mrs. Martlens are members of
the Methodist Episcopal church and his fraternal affiliations are with the
Knights of Pythias and the ^lodern \^'oodmen of America.
Rev. R. P. Hamm, a pioneer Kansas minister and farmer, was born in
Fleming county, Iventucky, November 27, 1831, a son of George and Ruth
(Riggs) Hamm. the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Mary-
land. Mr. Hamm was one of a family of nine children, four of whom are
BIOCIKArllU AL 275
iK)\v living. They were all ambitious, successful and upri.ulu citizens. He
was reared in Kentucky where he attended the country schools, and when
twenty-three years of age went to Illinois, locating near iiloomington.
Here he entered land, and followed farming until May 10, 1857, when he
came to Kansas and settled in w-hat is now Jackson county, at that time
Calhoun. He entered two quarter sections, which was allowable under the
law at that time, and received his land warrants from President Buchanan.
He has added to his original holdings, and now has a fine farm of four
hundred acres, located five miles west of Holton. He entered the ministry
in the Methodist Episcopal church in 1861, and four years later became a
regularly ordained minister. His first circuit embraced three Kansas
counties, and he has generally been located in the vicinity of HoltcMi. lie
carried on farming in connection with his work in the ministry, but in
1900, he was compelled to give up the ministry on account of the failure
of his voice caused by a severe attack of gri]). Mr. H^amm has proliably
performed more marriage ceremonies than any other official in Jackson
count}-. \\'hen he came to Jackson county there were only two houses
where the city of Holton now stands, and they were "claimers." He has
seen this country developed from an unbroken plains into the garden
spot of the world. He was here through all the stirring days of the
border war, but never took any prominent part in the events of those
times. However, in 1864, he served in the Kansas militia, in the cam-
I)aign against General Price. Mr. Hamm was married August 31, 1864,
to Miss .Susan Million, a native of Kentucky, and to this union were born
six children: Cora L., married John Peace, and resides in Jackson
county; lilla, married John liishop, who is now deceased; Barbara, mar-
ried Alvin AI)le. Jackson county ; Melville Grant, resides on the home
farm; Mattie, married John Martlcns, a sketch of whom appears in this
vohmie. and Robert Hibbert, resides on one of his father's farms. Mr.
Hamm has generally declined to accept public office, but served as town-
ship trustee for a time. He has travelled a great deal, but says that he
has never seen any place that looks better to him than Kansas.
W. J. May, a Kansas pioneer and Civil war veteran, who has spent
lifty-se\en years of his life in this State, was born in Woodson county,
Virginia, (now West Virginia"). May 25, 1840. He is a son of George W.
and Rachael (Smith) May, both natives of \^irginia. The May family
came to Kansas in 1857, settling at Valley Falls, and here they bought
go\ernmcnt land, and the father followed farming there until his death
which occurred in 1887; the mother died shortly after coming to this
State in 1861. When they settled here, this section of Kansas was
sparsely settled, and land could be bought almost anywhere for $4 per
acre, and later it was even cheaper than that. W. J. May was one of a
family of eleven children. He was seventeen years old when the family
came to Kansas, and did not attend school very much after that. He re-
mained at home until about twentv-one, when he went to work as a farm
276 lilOGRAPIIUAL
laborer, receiving $13 per month. When he was twenty-three, he bought
a farm adjoining his father's place, and here began life for himself, farm-
ing about fifty acres of land. He continued farming and stock raising,
and now has one of the finest farms of 320 acres in Jefferson county. In
1875, he went to Barton county, took a homestead and bought additional
land, and in 1899, sold his interests in Barton county and removed to
]Meriden, where he has since lived, practically, in retirement. At one time
he owned 1,600 acres of land in Ford county, but he has disposed of that.
He is a stockholder in the State Bank of Meriden, and interested in other
local enterprises. In the fall of 1862, Mr. May enlisted in Company I,
Eleventh Regiment, Kansas infantry, which was later converted into a
regiment of cavalry. His regiment did service along the border, in
Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Indian Territory. He was at the engage-
ments at Kane Hill, Prairie Grove, and in the campaign against General
Price, and in the spring of 1865, his regiment was sent on an expedition
against hostile Indians in the West. The}' had several encounters with
the "Noble Red Man," and his horse was shot from under him at Platte
Bridge, near Sweetwater, and he says when his horse fell that he was
up and going on foot, in the opposite direction from the Indians, without
the loss of a second. He remained in the service for some time after his
term of enlistment expired, until the regiment was relieved, when he re-
turned to Fort Leavenworth and was discharged. The May family were
were well represented in the Civil war, five brothers out of the following
family of children bore arms in defense of the Union. Salathiel, served
in Company I. Eleventh Kansas Regiment; Martha, married Abraham
Hasler, and is now deceased; Isaac, served in the Eleventh Kansas Regi-
ment, resides at Onaga, Kans. ; James, served in Company I, Eleventh
Kansas, and is now deceased ; George, served in Company I, Eleventh
Kansas ; Rachael married Hugh Piper, and now resides at Hoyt, Kans. ;
Am}', married George Gerberick, and resides in Topeka ; Eliza married
George Lambert, and resides in Oskaloosa ; Joseph, resides in Tliomas
county, Kansas, and Flora. Mr. May was married in 1870, to Miss
Lavina Piper, a native of Indiana, then a resident of Jefiferson county.
She came to Kansas with her parents when a child. To Mr. and Mrs.
Alay have been born four children: William, a farmer near Meriden,
Kans. ; Henry, a farmer near Carbondale, Kans. ; Florence, married
Thomas Stewart, and resides at San Diego, Calif., and Katie, deceased.
Mr. May takes a commendable interest in public affairs, and has served
as Mayor of Meriden two terms, and has served several terms on the
school board. He is a stanch Republican, and has ever supported the
princiiiles of that party. He is a mem])er of the Ancient Order of L^nited
Workmen.
R. Robson, M. D., a pioneer physician of Jackson county, and one of
the leading members of the medical fraternity, was born in Ritchie
county. \'irginia (now West Virginia), November 21, 1861. He is a son
of .\dam and Mary (Douglas) Robson, the former a native of .Scotland
r.llKJKAl'llK AL 277
and the latter of \'iry;inia. The father came to America when twenty-
two years old. He was a tailor and worked at that occupation in early
life, and later followed farming. The famih^ removed to Missouri in 1864,
where the father followed farming a number of years. He died in 1896,
aged eighty-eight years. Dr. Robson was one of a family of seven chil-
dren, six of whom are living: Dr. R., the subject of this sketch; William
D., Yates Center, Kans. ; Adam H., deceased; Eleanor J., resides at Den-
nison, J\lo. ; Margaret, married James Tudhope, Linwood, Kans. ; Eliza-
beth, married Harry E. Robson, resides at Hall Summit, Kans., and John
A., Dennison, Mo. Dr. Robson was reared on a farm and received his
early educational discipline in the public schools of Missouri, and taught
school a number of years. He then determined upon a medical career,
and began reading medicine, under the direction of Dr. Clayton Tiffin, of
Hannibal, Mo., and later entered Ellsworth Medical College at St. Joseph,
-Mo., where he was graduated in the class of 1889, with the degree of
Doctor of Medicine. He then engaged in practice at Larkin, Kans., where
he remained two years. In 1891, he came to Jackson county, locating at
Mayetta, where he has since been engaged in the practice of his profes-
sion. He is now the second oldest physician, in point of practice, in
Jackson county. When he began practice in this county, the life of the
country doctor was far different from what it is today. He frequently
made trips across the plains, at all hours of the night and da3^ over almost
impassable country roads, and sometimes no roads at all, but like the
doctor of the old school, he always went when called, and attended the
rich and poor, alike, regarding his pay as a secondary consideration, lie
has been successful in a financial way, as well as professionally. He
now owns one of the finest business blocks in Mayetta, known as the
Robson building, which he built in 1904. Dr. Robson was married De-
cember 25, 1879, to Miss Charlotte Slack, a native of -Missouri. She was
born in Ray county, that State. To Dr. and Mrs. Robson have been born
eight children: .Susan, married Charles Yeakjey, Hoyt, Kans.; Franklin,
now serving in the U. S. Coast Artillery, and stationed in the Philippine
Islands; Thomas; William; Frederick; Frances; Velma and Clark, all
at home except the two oldest. Dr. Robson is a member of the County,
Northeastern Kansas, and Kansas State Medical Societies, and one of
the progressive citizens of Jackson county.
W. J. Hurd, a prominent Kansas ])i<>necr and \ eleran of the Civil
war, died at his home in Holton, Kans., October 23, 1902. He was
one of the most prominent citizens of Jackson county, and widely known
throughout the State. He had been a resident of Jackson county for
twenty-three years, and in that time, thoroughly identified himself with
its business interests and ]jrogress, and accpiired for himself not only a
competence, but gained the esteem, good will and confidence of the
people. \\^illiam J. Hiird was born in .Addison county, Vermont, Decem-
ber 28, 1840. His parents were both natives of the "Green Mountain
State." When he was fifteen vears old thev moved to Whiteside count\-.
278 BIOGRAPHICAL
Illinois, when they removed to Clear Creek county. Colorado. In 1863,
W. J. Hurd left the parental home and returned to Whiteside county,
Illinois, and enlisted in Company B. One Hundred and Fortieth Regi-
ment, Ilinois infantry, and served until the close of the war. After his
discharge he returned to Whiteside county, Illinois, and learned teleg-
raphy. He followed that ocupation for some time, and was also clerk
in a hotel at Morrison, 111. On January- 17. 1868. he was married to Miss
Amanda Bacon in St Lawrence county, X. Y., and -with his bride con-
tinued to live in Illinois where he was appointed steward in the State
penitentiary at Joliet, serving in that capacity for four years. Upon
leaving this institution he engaged in the mercantile business for three
years at Joliet, 111., when he removed with his family to Colorado and
engaged in the real estate, insurance and mining brokerage business at
Georgetown, and afterward at Leadville. In July, 1879, on account of
ill health, he left Colorado and came to Holton, Kans., where he spent
a few months, and in 1888, purchased a farm in Garfield township where
he settled. This was his first experience in farming and stock raising,
but he posessed good judgment and an abundance of common sense,
which he applied to his new vocation as he had to all other undertakings,
and made a success. For ten years he lived upon his farm, increasing
his original holdings until he owned a thousand, acres of land. In 1890,
he removed to Holton, where, a few years later, he erected a fine resi-
dence in the southeast part of the city. Mr. Hurd always took an active
part in politics, being identified with the Republican party until 1590,
when he joined the Poptilists. On March i, 1893, he was commissioned
by Gov. L. D. Lewelling as one of the directors of the State penitentiary,
which position he held during that administration. On April 27, 1897,
he was appointed by Governor J. \\'. Leedy as a member of the State
school text-book commission for a term of four years. This was the
first commission under the new school text-book law. In all jjublic posi-
tions Mr. Hurd served with ability and no question was ever raised as
to his integrity. To W. J. and .\manda (Bacon) Hurd were born two
children: .Abijah, engaged in the real estate business in Kansas City,
Mo., and Robert Judson, a sketch of whom follows this article. The
widow and mother now reside at Flolton, Kans.
Robert J. Hurd, a leading farmer and stockman of Jackson county, is
a n;iti\e of that county, l)orn on a farm in Garfield township, January 2,
1884. lie is a son of \\'. J. Hurd, a sketch of whom appears in this
volume. Robert J. Hurd received his early education in the public
schools of Jackson county and graduated from the Holton High School
in the class of 1900. He then entered Campbell University where he
was graduated in the class of 1904, with a degree of Bachelor of Science.
After completing school he engaged in farming and stock raising in
Garfield townshi]). He is one of the largest cattle feeders of the county
BIOGRAPHICAL 279
and has fed hundreds of cattle for the market. His farm consists of 640
acres, all well improved. Mis place is eqnip]jed with large, modern
barns, two substantial silos, and a fine modern residence. In 1903, he
engaged in breeding pure blood Hereford cattle, and he now has a herd
of twent)--one head, as fine as can be found in the State. He is also an
extensive hog raiser. Mr. Hurd was married March 20, 1906, to Miss
Rutii I'". Rafter, a daughter of E. E. Rafter, a sketch of whom api)ears
in this volume. Mrs. Hurd was born in Holton and educated in the
public schools of Holton, and Campbell University, graduating in the
class of 1901. She specialized in music and after finishing at Campbell
University, attended George \\'ashington University, Washington, U.
C, where she studied music two v-ears. She then attended the Linsborg
College of Music, Linsborg, Kans. To Mr. and ]\Irs. Hurd have been
born two children: Elizabeth Rafter Hiu'd, born October i, 1908, and
Nathan Rafter Hurd, born February 11, 1913.
Hugh Piper, a Kansas pioneer and early day plainsman, now living
retired at Hoyt, is a native of Ohio. He was born in Richland county,
March 25, 1840, a son of James and Jane Pijier, the former a native of
Pennsylvania and the latter of Ireland. In 1844, the family removed
from Richland C(junty, Ohio, to Jasper count}', Indiana, and settled in
Beaver township. These, were real pioneer days in Indiana, that part
of the country lieing a dense wilderness. There were only three other
families living in the township where the Piper family settled. The
father followed farming there until his death in 1852, and in 1856, the
mother and the children came to Kansas, locating in JefTerson county
where they bought a farm near the Jackson county line, east of where
the town of Hoyt now stands. The mother died there August 6, 1863.
Hugh Piper spent his early days on the frontier, and his education was
gained, largely in the rough school of experience. In 1859. '^"^ made a
trip from Leavenworth, Kans., to P>lack Hawk, Colo., hauling a stock of
drugs across the plains, and from that time on, was regularly engaged in
freighting for the go\ernment. He hauled lumber from Fort Leaven-
worth, Kans., to Fort Laramie, W'no., with which to build the fort at the
latter place. He crossed the ]ilains thirteen times, in all, going as far
as Ogden, Utah, on one trij). I'lU'Taln and Indians were ])lentiful on the
plains at that time, and the freighters fret|uently encountered hostile
Indians, and on two different occasions members of Mr. Piper's freight-
ing party were killed by the Indians. Mr. Piper was here during the
days of the Border War, and when yuantril raided Lawrence, Mr.
Piper's freighting party was at Topeka. on the ground where the capitol
is now located, and while going down town to buy provisions, the}' were
arrested bv citizens, who susjiccted tiiem of being a pro-slavery out-fit,
l)ut they were able to explain tiie situation and were released. During
28o ]!IOGH.\riIICAI.
the Civil war. Mr. Piper served in Company I, Eleventh Kansas Militia,
in the campaign against General Price. He followed freighting about
seven years, and in the spring of 1869, bought a farm of eighty acres in
Jefi'erson county, where he engaged in farming and stock raising. He
succeeded in his undertakings and bought additional land until he owned
eight hundred and eighty acres, in one body, in JefTerson county, and
twenty-five hundred acres in Thomas county. After getting a start, he
engaged extensively in stock raising, making a specialty of high grade
Herefords and Short Horn cattle, and fed large numbers of cattle for
market each year. He was one of the organizers of the People's Bank
of Meriden, Kans., but has disposed of his interest in that institution.
In the fall of 1907, he removed to Hoyt, Kans.. and retired from active
business, and about that time divided his farms among his children,
except his twenty-five hundred acre ranch in Thomas county, which he
sold, and later bought another farm near Hoyt which he now owns. Mr.
Piper was married March 21, 1869, to Miss Rachel May, daughter of
George and Rachel May, of Wheeling, W. Va. Mrs. Piper was born and
reared in Wheeling, and came to Kansas with her parents in 1856. They
settled at Grasshopper Falls, now Valley Falls, where the father followed
farming until his death in 1883. The mother died soon after coming to
Kansas. To Mr. and Mrs. Piper have been born three children : Alice,
married Louis Whittelsey, deceased, and she resides at Hoyt and has
two children : Maude, who married John Matthews, and Ruby ; Ben-
jamin F., married Maude Bainbridge, resides in Jackson county and has
three children, Emmett, Harold, and Orpha, and Maude, married Simon
Stadel, farmer, Hoyt. They have two children, Edna and Ralph. Mr.
and Mrs. Piper are members of the Baptist church, and he is a Mason.
Mr. Piper is one of the men who has seen Kansas develop, from the
wild and unbroken plains, which was then supposed to be a desert waste.
to the most fertile and productive State in the Union, and a work of this
character is performing its most important mission when it gives due
credit to such men as Mr. Piper, for the part they have taken in this
great transformation. He and his fellow pioneers performed their jtart
nobly and well, and were the real makers of Kansas history.
John W. Darlington, M. D., is a prominent Jackson county physician,
located at Denison, is a native of West Virginia. He was born in Lewis
county, that State, January 18, 1854, a son of Joseph and Maria (Byrne)
Darlington, both natives of Virginia. The father was engaged in the
general mercantile business throughout life. He died in 1885 and the
mother survived him a few years. Dr. Darlington attended the public
schools in his native county, and later attended the State University of
West Virginia, Morgautown, W. Ya.. one year. He then entered the
One Study University at Newmarket, Ohio, where he was graduated in
the class of 1873, with a degree of Bachelor of Science. He then taught
school for a time, and later studied medicine under the private instruction
BIOGRAIMIUAL 281
of Dr. J. W. island and Dr. Koontz for three years, lie then tixik the
State e.xaniination and was admitted to practice. On account of his
father's business losses, during the Civil war, Dr. Darlington was com-
pelled to pay his own way through school, and the experience thus gained
developed a spirit of self-reliance which was valuable to him in after-life.
After passing the examination of the State board of West Virginia, he
went to Iowa, and located at Earlham, where he practiced three years.
He then entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Baltimore,
Md., and was graduated in the class of 1887, with a degree of Doctor of
Medicine. He then came to Kansas and located at Denison. The town
was not even laid out at that time. He immediately engaged in the
practice of his profession, and has remained there ever since. He has
met with unusual success in his chosen calling and has built up a large
practice in Denison and vicinity. He is now a member of the United
States Board of Pension Examiners, of which he is president, and has
served as coroner of Jackson county six years. Dr. Darlington was
married August 31, 1877, to Miss Elizabeth Morris, a daughter of
Thomas S. and Susan (Bouse) Morris, natives of West Virginia. Mrs.
Darlington was born in Lewis county, West Virginia, and was educated
in private schools. To Dr. and Mrs. Darlington have been born four
children: Thomas M., born July 23, 1878, editor of the "Farmer and
Stockman," San Antonio, Tex., married Miss Adelaide Tyler, of San
.\ntonio, and they have one child, Dorothy Adalaide ; John W'., born
September i, 1880, photographer, Holton, Kans., married Edith Mat-
thews, and they have one child, Grace Elizabeth; Charles A., born Janu-
ary 16, 1885, a reporter on the Des Moines Iowa "Daily Capital," and
Grace E., born July 14, 1890, a teacher in the city schools of Oskaloosa,
Kans. Mr. Darlington is a member of the Ancient Free and .\ccepted
Masons, the Independent Order of Odd I-'ellows, and the American State
and County Medical Associations, and for two years served as president
of the countv organization. The fami!_\- are members of the M. E. church.
and Dr. Darlington is a Democrat.
Samuel T. Osterhold, editor of the Holton "Signal," is one of the live
newspajjer men of Northern Kansas. He was born at Holton, September
30, 1882. and is a son of S. G. and Elizabeth (Hastwell) Osterhold, both
natives of Cleveland, Ohio. The father was a court stenogra])her and
attorney, and has practiced law in Jackson county for several years, and
is now associated with Judge Charles Hayden, in the practice at Holton.
Samuel T. Osterhold attended the public schools of Holton, and gradu-
ated from the high school in the class of 1899. He then took a four-year
course in Campbell University, and went to work in the office of the
Holton "Signal." His natural inclination, when a boy, was toward the
newspaper business, and when only thirteen years of age, he spent his
s])are time in the ])rinting office. He began as printer's "Devil," and
stuck to the same paper until he became its owner and editor. He worked
2S2 BIOGRAPHICAL
in the office of the "Signal" until 1910, when he bought that publication,
and has since been its editor and owner. The "Signal" is a weekly pub-
lication, and was established in 1877, by Fairchild & Sargent. It is a
newsy country paper, and its editorials bear the imprint of its editor's
ability. The "Signal" plant is equipped with all modern machinery, in-
cluding linotype machines, and in addition to printing the paper they
do an extensive job printing business. Mr. Osterhold is a Democrat
and through the columns of his paper, is a consistent supporter of the
policies and principles of that party. He is secretary of the Democratic
County Central Committee, and was a delegate to the Democratic State
convention, held at Hutchinson in 191 2. He was married September 29,
1910, to Miss Grace McCrumb, daughter of James and Mary McCrumb,
natives of Pennsylvania. They came to Kansas in 1881, and the father
is now engaged in farming and stock raising. He was one of the early
day star-route mail carriers between Topeka and Holton. Mrs. Oster-
hold was born at Holton, Kans., and educated in the public schools of
that place. Prior to her marriage she was a printer in the "Signal" office.
Mr. and Mrs. Osterhold are members of the Christian church, of which
he is a deacon. He has been secretary of the Sunday school for the
past fifteen j'ears. He is a member of the time-honored Masonic lodge,
and Mrs. Osterhold holds membership in the Eastern Star.
J. A. Milligan, M. D., a prominent physician of Garnett, is a native of
Indiana. He was born in Jackson county, January 20, 1858, and is a son
of A. C. and Margaret (Stillwell) Milligan, the former a native of Ire-
land, who was brought to this country by his parents when a child, and
the latter a native of Kentucky and a descendant of an old Southern
family. The Milligan family removed from Jackson county to Green-
castle in 1868, where the father died in 1872, and the mother died at
Garnett at the ripe old age of eighty-three. They were the parents of
seven children: Thomas F. Springfield, Colo.; Charles, deceased; Wil-
liam McK.. Fayetteville, Ark.; George. Garden City, Kans.; J. A., the
subject of this sketch; A. M., who resides in Colorado, and Etta, died in
1891, aged twenty-one years. Dr. Milligan received his education in the
public schools of Greencastle, Ind., and DePauw University in Green-
castle. He then engaged in teaching in Indiana for three years, and
during that time also studied medicine. He then entered the Central Col-
lege of Physicians, Indianapolis, Ind., where he was graduated in the
class of 1883, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He then practiced
his profession one year at Lena, Cla)' county, Indiana, and in 1884, came
to Kansas, and the following year engaged in the practice at Greensburg,
Kiowa county. He remained there ten years, and in 1895, came to
Garnett where he has since been successfully engaged in the practice of
medicine. Dr. Milligan is a Republican, and since coming to Kansas
has taken an active part in politics. In 1006, he was elected Representa-
tive to the State legislature from Anderson county, serving in the regular
BIOGRAPHU AL 283
sesion and the extra session which followed. Dnrinq; that term he was
a prominent factor in the legislation which was enacted, and served as
chairman of the committee on- Hygiene and Public Health. The Kansas
Pure Food Law now on the stattite books was framed when he was chair-
man of that ccjmmittee and passed at tliat session. In 1908, he was
elected to the State Senate from the district composing Anderson and
Linn counties, and served four years. He was chairman of the commit-
tees on Hygiene and Temperance, and much important legislation was
worked out through these committees during his term in the Senate. In
the session of 1909, the Hotel Inspection Bill was passed, and a bill pro-
viding for the compulsory reporting of tubercidosis cases to the State
Board of Health, and an appropriation of $20,000.00 was made for a
State wide educational campaign against Turberculosis. During that
session. Dr. Milligan was instrumental in getting an act passed, prohibit-
ing the sale of intoxicating liquors, without exception or reservation.
During the session of 191 1, he was chairman of the same committees, and
succeeded in working through this session, a State appropriation of
$50,000.00 for the erection of a State Tuberculosis sanitarium, which is
now located at Norton. His efforts while a member of both the house
and senate, in behalf of laws for the benefit of public health, is worthy
of the highest commendation. His eflforts were unceasing, until he had
made it possible for the establishment of the above mentioned sanitarium
at Norton. He had given the sanitarium method of treating tuberculosis
patients special studv for a long time before he became a member of the
legislature, and from the time he was elected to the lower house, until
the appropriation bill was passed, he directed his best energies to the
establishment of that institution. On June 14, 1914, Dr. Milligan was
])resent with a number of State officers, including the governor, at the
dedication of the sanitarium. The bill creating the instiUition, provided
for an advisory committee of five physicians for this institution, to be
ajijxjintcd by the governor and since the creation of that committee. Dr.
Milligan has been its president. He is a close student of the science of
medicine and keeps fully abreast of the rapid progress made in his pro-
fession. Lie has taken two post-graduate courses at the Chicago Poly-
clinic and also a special course in the post-graduate school of medicine of
New York. Dr. Milligan was married June i, 1887, at Greensburg, Tnd.,
to Miss Josie Parkison. of Rensselaer, Tnd., and they have one child:
Henry V., a graduate of the Garnett Lligh School and the State Agricul-
tural College of Manhattan, and now has charge of his father's farm,
which consists of six hundred and forty acres, located two miles south
of Garnett. They carry on an extensive dairying business, and arc also
extensive stock raisers. The Milligan farm is one of the finest to be
found in Anderson county. While a resident of Kiowa county. Dr. Milli-
gan was chairman of the Republican County Central Committee and
served as mayor of Greensburg one term. He has been local surgeon
284 niOGRAPHICAL
for the Santa Fe Railroad companj^ for twenty-tive years, and is a
member of the Santa Fe Railroad Surgeon Association, The County,
State and American Medical Associations, and holds membership in the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Ancient Order of United Work-
men and the Knights of Pythias.
George G. Fox, president of the La Harpe State Bank and an active
factor in the commercial life of Allen county, is a native of New York.
He was born in Lewis county, June 23, 1846, and is a son of John and
Anna (Hilman) Fox, the former a native of Connecticut and the latter of
New York. The family removed to Livingston county. New York, when
George G. was about six years of age. The father was a farmer and
spent the remainder of his life in Livingston county. George G. Fox
received his education in the public schools and Geneseo Academy,
Geneseo, N. Y., and after completing school engaged in the manufacttire
of cheese in several States, and for a time operated in Xova Scotia also.
He was engaged in that business about eight }-ears, when he entered the
mrcantile business at Groveland, N. Y., in which he was engaged about
six years when he removed to East Groveland, where he remained until
1883. He then came to Allen county, Kansas, and settled on a farm in
Elm township, which he had purchased sometime previously, while there
on a visit. He engaged in farming and stock raising until 1899, when he
remo\ed to La Harpe, where he had an eighty-acre tract of land which he
])latted into town lots and sold. This subdivision forms a part of the
business and residence section of La Harpe. Mr. Fox was engaged in
the real estate business at La Harpe until 1910. When the La Harpe
.State Bank was organized, he was one of the promoters, and became pres-
ident of that institution, a position which he has since held. He was one
of the organizers of the La Harpe Shale Brick Company and was presi-
dent of that company three or four years. Mr. Fox was married, Febru-
ary 16, 1886, to Miss Mary E., daughter of James and Jane Egle, natives
of New York State, where the father was engaged in farming and stock
raising. Mrs. Fox was born in Livingston county, New York, where she
was educated in the public schools. Mr. Fox has been a life-long Repub-
lican and has taken an active part in local politics, but has never held
political office, with the exception of township trustee, having served two
terms in that office while he lived on his farm. He is one of the
large land owners of Allen county, and now owns over a thousand acres.
Mr. and Airs. Fox are members of the Presbyterian church of which he is
trustee.
John Herman Tholen, who departed this life, February 18, igii, was
one of the successful business men of Southeastern Kansas. He began
life a poor bo}-, and by his own unaided efforts succeeded to a marked
degree. He was a native of Germany, born at Harren, September 9,
1853, and was a son of J. H. and Helena (Fuhnstagle) Tholen, both
natives of Germany. The father was a teacher, and followed that pro-
BIOGKAI'HICAI. 285
fession throughout life. John 1 Icrman Tliolt-n was educale(l in his father's
school, and when a mere boy went to sea and was a sailor lor liiree years.
In 1872, he immigrated to America and after remaining a short time, in
Illinois, went to Milwaukee and attended college for two years, in order
to obtain an English education. He then went to Breese, 111., and taught
school two years. During vacations, and other times that could be
spared from his school work, he was engaged in buying and selling pro-
duce, and finally drifted into the produce business, exclusively. In 1877,
he came to Kansas, and located at Humboldt where he bought and
shipped butter and eggs, principally, to the St. Louis markets. In 1878,
he engaged in the restaurant and confectionery business at Humboldt,
and conducted this business about ten years, and during that time he
was also engaged in several other enterprises. He built two large ice
houses and engaged in the ice business, furnishing tiie Missouri, Kansas
& Texas Railroad Company with ice for years. He also conducted a
pop bottling establishment at Humboldt, and bought a grocery store in
Humboldt, which he conducted for a number of years, in partnership
with B. H. Achter and Henry Tholen. After this latter business was
well established, he started another grocery store, on a cash basis, and
retained his two partners in connection with this enterprise also. About
1889, he disposed of his restaurant and confectionary business, and the
following 3'ear sold his ice business and bottling works, and his interest
in the grocery business. In 1891, in partnership with B. H. Achter and
George Greeby he purchased the wholesale grocery house of Lehman &
Higgins \\'holesale Grocery Company, of Humboldt, and established the
Tholen & Achter \\'holesale Grocery house at Humboldt. In 1900. they
reorganized this business, and established the lola Wholesale Grocery-
Co., at lola, Kans., and Mr. Tholen became president of the company and
served in that ca])acity until his death. He was active in local affairs,
and took a prominent part in every movement for the betterment of his
town and county. He served as mayor of Humboldt one term. Mr.
Tholen was united in marriage February 7, 1878. at Humboldt, Kans., to
Miss F.llagunda Koppers, a native of Germany. Mrs. Tholen is a very
cajjable woman, and throughout her husband's busy and successful
career, he sought her counsel in all important business matters. She
was a daughter of Henry and Juhanna (Franklin) Koppers, natives of
Klepplin, Germany, where the father was a farmer until 1867, when the
family immigrated to America and located in Wisconsin. In 1870, they
came to Kansas, and located near Humboldt in Allen county. ]\lrs.
Tholen was educated in a private school in Germany, and after coming
to this country attended the public schools. To Mr. and Mrs. Tholen
were born five children. The Tholen family are members of the Catholic
Church and Mr. Tholen was a member of the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks. Knights and Ladies of Security, and the Modern Wood-
men of .America.
286 r.ioGUAriiiCAL
James H. Campbell, cashier of the lola State Bank, is a native of
Kansas. He was Ijorn in Anderson county, January 31, 1874, and is a
son of James H. and Bethia (Simpson) Campbell. For additional his-
tory of the Campbell family see sketch of Altis H. Campbell, eldest
brother of James H., of this review. James H. Campbell's opportunities
for an education were limited in early life, but he has ever been a student
of books, as well as of men and afifairs, and is a wtjrthy example of a
self-made man. He attended the district schools until he was twelve
years old, and for a few months attended school in lola. When twelve
years old he went to work in a store at Colony, and two years later the
family removed to lola, where the father died January 15, i88g, and
Aoung Campbell was compelled to give up school and go to work to assist
his mother. He found employment in a grocery store for a few months
and on May 7, 1889, went to work in a drug store for Dr. John W. Scott.
His salary was $2.00 per week to start and one and a half years later he
became manager of the store, Dr. Scott ha\ing been appointed to a federal
position, and on September 22, 1892, he purchased the drug store and con-
ducted the business alone until July, 1895. The business had grown to
such proportions that he required the assistance of a partner and sold a
half interest to Dr. R. O. Christian, and the firm became Campbell &
Christian, and about that time their business required larger quarters,
and they had a new building especially constructed for their require-
ments. In 1898. Dr. Christian sold his interest in the business, to S. R.
Burrell. and the firm name became Campbell & Burrell until 1906, when
Mr. Campbell sold his interest. July 1, 1905. Air. Campbell became
cashier of the lola State Bank, altliough he retained his interest in the
drug store about a year after that. The lola State Bank is one of the
substantial banking institutions of Southeastern Kansas, and was organ-
ized in 1903, by A. B. Roberts, of Abilene who was its cashier for two
years. In 1905, the controlling interest changed hands and L. E. Hor-
ville became its president, and shortly afterwards Mr. Cainpbell became
cashier, and has held that position to the present time. This institu-
tion has had a substantial growth, and its business has never been
affected by financial panics or money flurries. According to the official
reports of the bank, on August 25, 1903, the deposits amounted to $81,-
440.22, and on June 30, 1914, the deposits were $248,181.42, a comparison
of which con\-eys some idea of the rapid development of the business of
the institution. Mr. Campbell, in addition to his banking interests, owns
considerable land, in Allen county, as well as in other parts of the State.
Mr. Campbell was united in marriage June 29, 1903, to Miss Kate V.
Ausherman, a native of Alaryland who came to Kansas with her parents
when a child. Mrs. Cam])bell is a graduate of the lola High School, and
was a teacher in tlie lola scliools for a number of years before her mar,.-
riage. To Mr. and Mrs. Campbell have been born two children : Clifford
James, and Charles Altes. Mr. and Mrs. Campbell are members of the
mOGUAI'HKAI. 287
I'resbj'terian church, and he is a member of the Modern Woodmen of
America. Mr. Campbell is interested in a number of other banking in-
stitutions besides the lola State ISank. He is a director in the Farmers
State Hank of Piqua, Kans., and tlie Lone Elm State Bank of Lone Elm,
Kans.
George Gould belongs to that t}"pe of men. who came to Kansas at a
time when it required courage and self-denial to lead the way of civili-
zation, in the then so called Great .American Desert. Me is a native of
the Buckeye State, and was born on a farm in Gallia county, Ohio,
!March 31, 1848, a son of Andrew and Nancy (Denra) Gould, both
natives of Ohio. They were the parents of fourteen children, all of
whom lived to maturity, and ten of whorn are now living: George, Seth.
Frank, .Sarah, Maria, Eliza, DeMarris, Ella, Xancy and Carrie. The
following are now deceased: Joseph, Daniel, Jeremiah and Susan. The
father came to Harper county, Kansas, in 1882, and after preempting a
homestead and proving up on the same, returned to Ohio. He died at
Point Pleasant, W. Va., August 20, 1913. his wife having preceded him
in death about a jear.
George Gould was reared on a farm in his native State, and came to
Kansas in 1870. At this time there were few railroads in the State, and
he walked from Emporia to Eldorado, there being no railroad in the
latter town at that time. He first located on government land in Cowley
county, where he remained about ten years. He then went to Kingman
county and also preempted government land, and the town of Rago is
now located on this property. In 1880, he bought land in Liberty town-
ship. Harper county, which is his present home. He owns 1,300 acres
all under cultivation and well improved. When Mr. Gould came to
Kansas, the State with the exception of the eastern portion, was prac-
tically a vast unbroken prairie. He experienced all the trials, hardships
and dangers of real pioneer life, lived in the saddle, rode the range and
htuited buttaloes. He was a man of natural self-reliance, and belongs to
that class of fearless pioneers who served as the van guard, in the settle-
ment and development of the west. He handled cattle extensively all
his life and has been successful in that branch of industry. He built the
first frame house in the town of Oxford, Kans. Up to that time sod
houses and dugouts were the only style of habitation there. He has had
a sucessful career and accumulated a competence, but more than that,
he has built up a rei)utatioii for honesty, square dealing and good citi-
zenshi]!, for which he will long be remembered.
Montraville Murphy, a pioneer merchant of Harjier, Kans., and a
veteran of the Civil war, jiassed to his reward, September 17, KpQ. He
was a native of Indiana, born at Milford, October 20. 1837, ''"<^ •* ^'^" '""^
Albert and Rosanna (Whitmyer) Murphy, the former a native of Ken-
tucky, of Irish descent, and the latter of Cincinnati, Ohio, and a descend-
288 BIOGKAPHICAL
ant of an Ohio pioneer family. They were the parents of fourteen chil-
dren. The father died when the children were young, and in 1855. the
mother removed with the family to Appanoos county, Iowa, where they
resided until 1863, when they removed to Linn county, Kansas, where
the mother died December 3. 1863. The entire family of fourteen chil-
dren are now deceased. When the family came to Kansas, the Civil
war was in progress, and they located in the heart of the stirring scenes
of the border war. While they were on their way to Linn county, Kan-
sas, they were encamped on the Kaw River at Lane and Montgomery's
mill, not far from the town of Lawrence at the time it was sacked and
burned b}' Quantrell, .August 22, 1863. However, they bravely went
their way, and lived amidst these stirring surroundings until the Civil
war was over. Shortly after coming to Kansas, Montraville Murphy
enlisted in Company E, Seventeenth Regiment, Kansas infantry, and
served until the close of the war, when he returned to Linn county and
followed farming until 1877. He then went to Barber county, and was
engaged in the cattle btisiness on a ranch there for four years. He
bought cattle extensively in Texas, drove them through to his Kansas
ranch, and did an extensive business which proved very profitable to
him in those days of free range. In 1881, he came to Harper, and en-
gaged in the mercantile business and prospered. He was united in mar-
riage January 24, i860, to Miss Ruth Jane Payne, a native of Darbyville,
Ohio, born June 2y. 1842. She is a daughter of Jesse and Lucinda (Long-
ley) Payne, the former a native of Maryland, born March 4, 1804, and
died at Centerville, Iowa, Januar}- 27. 1887, and the latter a native of
Pennsylvania, born May 10, 1812. and died at Centerville. Iowa. Janu-
ary II, 1884. They were the parents of ten children, five of whom are
now living, as follows : John Payne. Jesse. \\'illiam, Minerva. Wilkin-
son and Ruth Jane. To Mr. and Mrs. ^lurphy have been born the fol-
lowing children : Jesse, Peter. Frances, Elizabeth, Minnie L.. Emma
Josephine. Rhoda Xeoma. Ezra S.. and Milton O. Jesse, was born
March 30. 1861. He has been twice married. September 24. 1880. he
was united in marriage to Miss Annie Morris, and five children were
born to this union : Maud E.. born September 23. 1882 ; Jessie, born
October 12. 1884. married Mark Coffin May 20, 1912; Hazel, born Octo-
ber 6. 1887: Dewitt. born November 11, 1889, died July 13. 191 1. and
Josephine, born August 7, 1891. married Claud Bryant, September 20.
1912. and has one child. Paul Montraville. born June 22. 1913. The wife
of Jesse Murphy and the mother of these children died June 11. 1893.
On November 10, 1896. Mr. Murphy married Rose Fisher, and six chil
dren were born to this union as follows : Mary. Ora, Margaret. John,
Melvin and Elizabeth. Peter Murphy was born October 2, 1862. mai -
ried Ora Swingle, March 26, 1882. and they have seven children, as
follows': Mnntra\ille. born May 2},. 1883, a custom inspector in the Phil-
BIOGRAl'HU AL 289
ippines ; May. born January 5, 1885; Ruland, 1)orn Febrnary 13. 1890. a
])rivate in the Twelfth Regiment, U. S. infantry; Helen, Ijorn March i",
1896; Albert, born August 30, 1899;. Louis, born August 23, 1900, and
Melva, born February 17, 1905. Frances Murphy was born December
24, 1863 and died in infancy. Elizabeth Murphy, was born September
6. 1865, married Louis Lebrecht, November 3, 1883, and they have tliree
children, Hal R.. born July 30, 1884; Louise, born October 4, 1S94. and
("lould. born December 30, 1902. Minnie L. Murphy, was born July 7.
1S68. married Frank H. Wright, July 14, 1887, and they have four
children: Ruth, born September 25. 1888; Louise, born September 2,
1891 ; Frank, born August 11, 1899, and Luther, born October 13, 1903.
Emma Josephine Murphy, was born March 10, 1870, married H. D.
Johnson June 3, 1894, and to this union has been born three children:
William, born December i, 1897; Elizabeth, born October 15. 1899. and
Riibert, born F'ebruary 14. 1901. Mrs. Johnson is an artist of exceptional
abilit}', and of wide reputation. Rhoda Neoma Murphy, was born April
16, 1872. who is also a talented artist, well known in severaal States for
the excellency of her paintings. She married L. H. Fellowth, February
16, 1892, and they have three children: Neoma. born October 25, 1894;
Corine. born December 11. 1896. and Floranz, born April 11, 1900. Ezra
S. Murphy was born November 28, 1874, married Dora Barney, June 27,
1899, and they have two children, Marjorie, born September 20, 1900,
and Mildred, born November 12, 1907. IMilton O. IMurphy, the youngest
of the family, was born. June 30. 1880, married Ida Powers, March 20,
1905. and they have one child, Jane, born June 10. 1907. Montraville
Murphy had an extensive acquaintance throughout Southern Kansas
and during a long and honorable career made many friends. He will
long be remcmliered as a Kansas pioneer who performed his part nobly
and well. A\'hcther in the hum dnmi of every day life, or on the field of
battle, he did his duly conscientiously.
James Washington Campbell, a well-known successful farmer and
stockman of Attica. Kans., is a Pennsylvanian and was born on a farm
in Center county, July 21. 1855. He is a son of James Watson and
Mary Ann (Pennington) Campbell. The father was also a native of
Pennsylvania, born in Center county. February 20, 1814. and spent his
life in that .State. When a young man. he was a teacher and surveyor,
but in later life followed farming. He died, December 29, 1878. His
wife, Mary Ann Pennington, was a daughter of Henry and Margaret
(Potter) Pennington. She was born August 29. 1818, her mother was
of Irish stock, and was born on the Atlantic Ocean, while her parents
were cnroulc to .\merica. James A\^ashington Campbell is one of a
family of nine children, as follows: John, born December 16, 1840, was
a captain in the Forty-fifth Regiment, Pennsylvania infantry, and was
killed in battle. July 30. 18^4. in front of Petersburg. Va. ; Henry, born
290 BIOGRAPHICAL
June 26, 1842, died January 20, 1907; Hannali Margaret, born January
II. 1844, married J. B. \\'illiams, T)'rone, Pa.; George Boston, born De-
cember 2, 1845, died December 20, 19x2; Isaac Pennington, born No-
vember I, 1847, died June 18, 1908; Robert Potter, born August 17, 1849,
died January 21, 1880; Anne Eliza, born August 22, 1851, died November
25. 1907; James Washington, the subject of this sketch, and ^lary Laura,
born January 29, 1858, now the widow of Hamilton Proffett. James W.
Campbell was educated in the public schools of Pennsylvania and in
the Pennsylvania State College, and in early life followed teaching and
farming in his native State. In 1885, -he came to Kansas, locating on
government land in Greeley county. Here he followed farming until
1889, when he bought land in Liberty township. Harper county, where
he now owns a splendid farm of 560 acres, which is under a high state
of cultivation, with all modern improvements and is considered the
best improved farm in the county. He is a scientific farmer, who uses
modern methods, and obtains profitable results. The place presents a
well kept and prosperous appearance, with silos, large barns, and a com-
fortable, modern residence. He specializes in Hereford cattle, in which
he has been very successful. Mr. Campbell was married October 18,
1883, 3^t Alaryville, Mo., to Miss Mary E. Bloom, a native of Illinois,
born April 13, 1861. To this union have been born five children: James
Watson, born November 23, 1884, a graduate of Kansas University, class
of 1910, with the degree of Bachelor of Art and entered the Medical de-
partment of that institution the same 3eaar and was graduated in the
class of 1914 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and is now practis-
ing his profession ; Nellie Greeley (the fTrst white child born in Greeley
county, Kans.), born July 31, 1886, was appointed a teacher in the Phil-
ippine service in 1910, a position which she has since held; Robert Prof-
fitt, born October i, 1889, graduated from the Kansas State Agricultural
College in the class of 1913; Hannah Margaret, born April 19, 1892, a
student in the Kansas State Agricultural College and a member of the
class of 1916. and Jessie, born February 12, 1901. The family are mem-
bers of the Methodist Episcopal church, and Mr. Campbell is a Republi-
can. He is progressive in his political views as well as in other affairs.
Samuel L. Kimmel, a well-known and successful farmer and stockman
of Southern Kansas, is a native of Ohio. He was born in fiercer county,
that Slate, March 15, 1847, and is a son of Henry and Susan (Hinds)
Kimmel, the former a native of Pennsylvania, born in Indiana county,
April 30, 1817, and died in Mercer county, Ohio, August 29, 1878. The
mother was born in Ohio, September 28, 1831, and died in Mercer county,
Ohio, November 5, 1907. They were the parents of eleven children :
Samuel L., the subject of this sketch; Silas, died in childhood; W' illiam ;
Mar)' Ellen; Ann; Alice; Jane; Jacob; Absalom; Andrew and George.
Samuel L. Kimmel received his education in the public schools of Ohio,
and remained in his native State until 1883. He then came to Kansas,
BIOCJRAl'HICAL 291
practically, without any means and preempted government land in
Liberty township. Harper county. His first few years w'as a struggle
for existence, and a battle for a start in life. Drouths and crop failures
were frequent, apparently, more so, than an\' time since, but he per-
sisted and worked hard, and has been rewarded by success. He bought
additional land, from time to time, until he now owns 1,600 acres of the
most valuable land in Harper county, in one body. It is known as
"Kimmel's Ranch." The improxements are modern in every particular
and the land is very productive, and under a high state of cultivation.
Mr. Kimmel is one of the most extensive stock raisers in Harj^er
county, raising horses, cattle and swine on a large scale. He was united
in marriage November i, 1870, in Mercer county, Ohio, to Miss Jane
Tester, a native of that county, born February 16, 1850. She is a daugh-
ter of David and Betsy (Cluter) Tester, both natives of Ohio. To Mr.
and I\Irs. Kimmel have been born seven children: Mary Rosethy, born
July 22, 1871, married John Miller; Lucy Florence, born January 24,
1873, married Elkaney Cox ; Silas, born March 3, 1875, died December
14, 1876; David Henry, born March [6, 1878, died October 11, 1878;
John, born October 3, 1881 ; George W ., born February 27, 1884, and
Ada Dell, born March 19, 1888, married John Cox. IVIr. Kimmel is a
Democrat, and is a firm believer and a staunch advocate of the principles
and policies of his party, but has never aspired to hold political office.
However, he has incidentally served as treasurer, trustee and clerk of
his township. The family is prominent, socially, and Mr. Kimmel is one
of the substantial men of Harper county.
Richard H. Burke, a prominent farmer and stockman uf Danville,
Kans., is a native of Michigan, born on a farm in Marion county, March
17, 1877. He is a son of John .\. and Matilda (Mcintosh) l'>urke. The
father is a native of Pennsylvania, born January 7, 1845. His parents
were natives of New York State. John A. Burke has been a carpenter
and farmer all his life. He was married in Michigan, in 1870. His wife
was a native of that State, born .September 10, 1849. Tliey <ire the par-
ents of seven children: lUanche, born in January, 1872, married L. R.
Smithler. a farmer of Hari^er county, and to this union w-ere born three
children, ilelen. Joscjih and John; Lyda, born in 1874, married .\lvin
Tompkins, farmer, Benton Harbor, Mich., and they have one child,
X'irgil; Richard H.. the subject of this sketch; James E., born May 18,
1879, graduated from the Harjjcr High School, with the class of 1899,
served three years in the U. A. army, and is now farming in Harper
county; Theodore H., born August 19, 1885, resides on the old Imme-
stcad in Harper county; Charles A., born January 5, 1887, married Miss
T. Woolfnrd, in 1907, and they have four children, Leo, l'"llen, L(.>rene
and John, and John II., born August 12, 1889, graduated fmni the Harp-
er County High School in 1907. married Miss Maggie Oliver, in 11)13, is
now engaged in the mercantile business at Brownsville, Tex. Julm A.
292 BIOGRAPHICAL
Burke came to Harper county, Kansas, with his famil\- in 1S77, and
located on government land in Pilot Knob township, one and one-half
miles west of the present town of Danville. He remained on this farm,
and followed farming successfulh- until 1904, when he retired and now
resides in Harper. He has been a life long Republican and always takes
an active part in local politics. He represented Harper county in the
State legislature for two terms, and has been chairman of the Republi-
can County Central Committee several terms. During his term of serv-
ice as a legislator, he served on various legislative committees, and is
the author of several important laws. Richard H. Burke, the subject of
this sketch, was reared in Harper county, educated in the public schools,
and graduated from the Harper High School in the class of 1896. He
has followed farming all his life, and has met with success, equalled by
few men of his age, and now owns a well improved farm of over eight
hundred acres, located one mile from Danville. In 1912, he raised ii.ooa
bushels of wheat. These figures will serve to give the reader an idea oi
the magnitude of his farming operations. He is progressive in his
methods and represents the advanced type of farmer, who sets the pace
for the agricultural world. In addition to his farming, he buys and
feeds cattle and hogs on a large scale, and this line of endeavor has
proven very profitable to him. Mr. Burke was married June 8, 1895. to
Miss Gertrude, daughter of Rufus and Amanda Coleman, of Harper
county. Mrs. Burke was born on a farm in Harvey countj', Kansas,
September 26, 1879. To Mr. and Mrs. Burke have been born two chil-
dren, Arnold, born December 21, 1901, and Erna, born February 7, 1905.
Mr. Piurke's fraternal affiliations are with the Masonic lodge.
William M. Moore, president of the Farmer's State Bank and mayor
of Anthony, has been prominently identified with the affairs of Southern
Kansas for thirtj' years. He is a native of Tennessee, born in Jefferson
count}^, August 7, i860, and is a son of John and Amanda ^I. (Miller)
Moore. The father was also a native of Jefferson county, born July 8,
i8ig, of Xew Jersey parents and Scotch-Irish descent. John Moore was
a farmer throughout his life and prominent in the community where he
lived. He was a Republican and a strong Union man, during the Civif
war. He was a member of the Baptist church, throughout life, and died
in his native State in 1894, Amanda Miller to whom he was married in
1839, was also a native of Jefferson county, Tennessee, and a daughter of
Robert and Sarah Miller, both natives of that State. She was born April
16, 1821, and died May 20, 1896. She, like her husband, was a devout
member of the Baptist church. To John and .Amanda (Miller) Moore
were born ten children : Zacharias C, born March 3, 1840, and died in
1910; Robert Miller, born May 28, 1842. and died during the Civil war,
while serving in the Confederate army; Sarah, died in infancy; John
Porter, born in 1846, came to Kansas, in 1909. and died in Harper
county. February 29, 1911 ; Mary A., born in 1848, now the wife of F.
BIOGRAPHICAI. dj^
M. Slayton, farmer, Jefferson county, Tennessee; Joseph R., burn in 1850,
a farmer and merchant at Kodak, Tenn. ; Samuel Walker, born in 1852,
resides in Jefferson county, Tennessee; Martha, born in 1854, now the
wife of John Swedser, Knoxville, Tenn.; William Al., the subject of this
sketch, and Albert Henry, died in infanc}-. William M. Moore attended the
public schools of Jefferson county, and graduated from the Dandridge
High School in the class of 1877 (^'^^ town of Dandridge was named in
honor of Martha W ashington, Dandridge being her maiden namej. In
1880, young Moore entered Carson & Newman's college at Jefferson
City, Tenn., where he was graduated in the class of 1883. He then
taught school for one year in Jefferson county, and in 1884, came to
Kansas, locating in Harper county, and for three years taught the Llurch-
field school eight miles south of Anthony. This school became a dis-
trict high school in 1888, through his efforts as a legislator. In 1885, Mr.
Moore bought fifteen hundred acres of unimproved land in Spring town-
ship, which he improved and has carried on farming and stock raising on
an extensive scale since that time and still owns the place. He has
always been a Republican, and took an active part in local politics since
he came to Harper county. In 1890, he was elected a member of the
board of count}- commissioners, serving three years, and during the last
year was chairman of the board. He was a member of this body when
the fraudulent bonds which were issued against Harper county, were
finally compromised and cancelled, and it was largely through his efforts
that the final disposition of this problem, which had harassed the
county for years was reached. He represented Harper county in the
State legislature in the sessions of 1909, and 1911, and during the former
session was a member of five different Legislative Committees and chair-
man of the Committee on Charitable Institutions. In this session, he
was the author of "The County Demonstration ISill," which was passed.
This bill allowed the State Agricultural College to test, and experiment
with seeds. He was the author of other important measures which be-
came laws, notable, among which was the bill creating township high
schools, and his home township, Spring, voted bonds and built the first
township high school in the Slate, under the provisions of this .\ct. Dur-
ing the session of 191 1, he was a member of the Ways and Means, Banks
and Banking, Congressional Appropriation and Charitable Institution
Committees, and was chairman of the Committee on Penal Institutions.
During this session he was chosen by a Legislative vote, a member of
the conuTiiltee to represent Kansas at the Panama-Pacific Exposition at
San Francisco, in 1915. In 1912. he was one of the Kansas representa-
tives, appointed by Gov. Stubbs, to the World's Prison Congress, held
at Omaha, \eb. In 1909, he was one of the organizers of the Farmer's
State I'ank, of .Anthony, and at that time was elected president of the
Institution, and lias since been the active executive head of this bank.
The bank has had a substantial growth and has shown capable manage-
294 BIOGRAPHICAL
ment from its organization. Its l^oard of directors include ele\-en of the
most substantial business men and farmers of Harper count}-. Mr.
Moore is now mayor of Anthony, having been elected in 1913, when the
town adopted the commission form of government, and he is handling
the municipal affairs of Anthony in the same successful business-like
way that he handled his private affairs. Mr. Moore was united in mar-
riage, September 3, 1885. to Miss Parolse Burchfield, a native of Dand-
ridge, Tenn., born January 22, 1864. She was a daughter of Rev. J. R.
and Louise (Lee) l^urchfield. She died December 14, 1897. On Janu-
ary 6, 1907, Mr. Moore married Miss Sopha Bousher, of Cairo, Mo., a
daughter of Dr. D. P. and Sarah Bousher. Mr. Moore is a Thitty-second
Degree, Knights Templar Mason, and a member of the Mystic Shrine,
and belongs to the Baptist church. He is a public spirited citizen, and
is ever willing to do his part in promoting the public welfare.
Riley Lake, a well-known citizen of Barber county and chairman of
the board of county commissioners, is a native of Illinois. He was born
on a farm in Adams county, July 20, 1862, and is a son of Reuben and
Mary H. (Beal) Lake. Reuben Lake is a native of Canada and was
born December 6, 1839. His parents, James and Irene Lake were also
natives of Canada. The family came to the United States in 1858, lo-
cating in Adams county, Illinois, where the mother died in 1858, and the
father in 1864. Reuben Lake served in Company E, Fiftieth Regiment,
Illinois infantry, during the Civil war, and in 1865, came to Kansas and
located at Erie where he built the first livery barn in the town which
was one of the old landmarks of that locality, until it was destroyed by
fire in 1910. Mr. Lake was engaged in the livery business there five
years, and in 1870, went to the Osage mission, where he operated a saw
mill three years. In 1873, he went west, locating in Barber county, which
was not organized at that time, but was organized during that year, and
Mr. Lake was appointed the first sheriff by Governor Osborn, and was
elected to that office at the first regular election. He took an active part
in the early affairs of the county, and won the reputation of being one
of the fearless and efficient officers of the frontier. Later he was elected
a member of the board of county commissioners, and served as chairman
of that body a number of years. In 1878, he opened a general store at
Lake City, a town named in his honor. He also served as postmaster at
that place until 1890. Mr. Lake did an extensive business in this frontier
town, and his principal customers were cattlemen and he became well-
known throughout the west. He is still engaged in business at Lake
City, and has a branch store at Sun City. He has always been active in
furthering the best interest of Barber county, and is one of the most
successful business men of that section. He has accumulated a large
amount of land, and now owns over four thousand acres. Reuben Lake
and Mar\- II. Beal were married at Onincy, 111., July 4, 1861, and to this
union were born six children, two of whom are living, as follows : Riley.
BIOGRAPHICAL 295
the subject of this sketch; Irene, married F. H. Goodwin, stockman,
Medford, Okla. Riley Lake, whose name introduces this review was
about tiiree years old when his parents came to Kansas, lie was edu-
cated in the public schools, and when a boy assisted his father in the
store. At the age of twenty he engaged in the stock business on an
extensive scale. He bought cattle and horses in Texas, and drove them
north into Kansas where he sold them. From 1885, to 1892, he was a
star route mail contractor and had a number of government mail con-
tracts, throughout old Indian Territory, Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas,
and conducted a number of stage lines in this connection. He was
well known and became a familiar character throughout the Southwest.
During recent years he has been engaged in the stock business in Bar-
ber county, in which he has been very successful. He has a fine farm of
over three hundred acres of valuable alfalfa land in the Medicine river
valley, near Lake City. He takes an active part in local politics and is a
staunch Democrat. In 1900, he was elected a member of the board of
county commissioners of Barber county, and has been chairman for thir-
teen years. Under his administration of the affairs of the county, the
county indebtedness has been reduced over three hundred thousand dol-
lars. He believes that, "public office is a public trust," and has endeav-
ored to carry out that policy. Mr. Lake was married June 17, 1895, to
Miss Pearl M. Tuckett, a native of Illinois, born October 14, 1875. To
Mr. and Mrs. Lake have been born three children: Russell B., born
July 12, 1896; Dan (}., born August 15, 1898, and Inet, born August 23,
1900. Mr. Lake is a Thirty-second Degree Knights Templar Mason, and
is well and favorably known in Southern Kansas.
Milton Higgins Clements, a veteran jjlainsman and Kansas pioneer,
wiiose cxiJcricnce on the frontier has few parallels in real life. To such
men as Milton II. Clements we owe a debt of gratitude for the services
they rendered in the cause of civilization. Mr. Clements is now living
retired at Sun City, Kans., near the scene of many of his pioneer adven-
tures. He is a native of Kentucky, born in liath county, November 7,
1834, a son of Roger T. and Xancy (lligginsi Clements, natives of Scot-
land. They were married in their native land and emigrated to America
in 1834, locating in Kentucky where the father was accidently killed, by
a falling tree in 1836. He was a cousin of Samuel Clements (Mark
Twain), the well-known American author and humorist. Two years
after the death of Mr. Clements, tlie mother removed with lier family of
small children to Macon county, Illinois, where she died in 1894. Milton
H. Clements was one of a family of five children, as follows: Thomas,
John. Jasper, William and Milton II. Milton II. remained at home
assisting on the farm and attending private schools imlil the Civil war
broke out, when he enlisted in Company E., Tenth Regiment, Illinois
cavalry. He was luomoted to sergeant and was in the service five years.
He took part in many important engagements, and after being mustered
296 BIOGRAPHICAL
out of service returned to his Illinois home. In 1866, he went to Pearce
City, Mo., a town just being organized. He took part in its early organi-
zation and development, and served as the first town marshall. In 1870,
he joined a United States surveying party who had the contract of sur-
veying the Osage Indian Reservation in Indian Territory. In 1872, he
joined a party of eleven who went to Western Kansas, for the purpose
of hunting bulTalo. This was purely a commercial enterprise, and they
killed thousands of buffaloes for their hides. They established a perman-
ent camp on Medicine river, where the town of Sun City now stands
That county was overrun with hostile Indians at the time, and the
buffalo hunters had frequent encounters, and many thrilling adventures
with the Indians. Their camp was a very substantially built affair and
aff'orded ample protection against Indian surprises. In 1874, a regiment
of State militia occupied the same camp while there, protecting settlers
during an Indian uprising. Mr. Clements was a member of that regi-
ment of militi-",, and served as quartermaster. January 8, 1875, while re-
turning from a trip to Hutchinson, where he had gone in an official ca-
pacity, after supplies for the garrison at Sun City, his party which con-
sisted of himself and three other soldiers, was caught in a blizzard. Two
of the party were frozen to death, and Mr. Clements and the other sur-
vivor were so badly frozen that their feet had to be amputated at the
ankles. He was granted a pension for this dissability by a special act of
Congress in 1884, and the State made a special appropriation of $500.00
for him. He took up government land near Sun City, which he im-
proved and still owns, in addition to other property in Barber and Pratt
counties and Oklahoma. He is a Republican, and has been active in the
jniblic life of Barber county. He served on the board of county commis-
sioners of Barber county four years, two of which he was chairman, and
in that capacity signed the first issue of script of Barber county. It was
for $2,500.00 issued in 1876, to Thomas P. Fenlon, attorney, for fighting
the fraudulent bond issue, that had been perpetrated on the county in
the early days. In 1882, Mr. Clements was elected sheriff of Barber
county and served one term. He was door keeper of the State Senate
during the sessions of 1893-5. ^" 1900, Mr. Clements retired. He was
united in marriage August 9, 1869, at Pearce City, Mo., to Miss Eliza-
beth Jane Cochran, daughter of H. II. and Millie (0'^^onnel^) Cochran.
Mrs. Clements was born on a farm in Ljreene county, Indiana, July 6, 1846.
To Mr. and Mrs. Clements have been born seven children, as follows:
Alfred; Lina, deceased; Caroline: Nettie; Orvell ; Ef!ie, and Plomer.
Mr. Clements is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
ha\ing joined that order in 1857, and is past grand master.
John Wesley Laury, register of deeds of Allen county, is a native of
the Keystone State He was born in Carbon county, Pennsylvania, Feb-
ruary 2, 1853, a son of Godfrey and Anna Marie (Dreisbach) Laury, both
natives of Pennsylvania. The former of Scotch, and the latter^ of Ger-
BIOGRAPHICAL 297
man descent. Godfrey Laur}- was a blacksmith and wagon maker, and
was engaged in the manufacture of carriages when the Civil war broke
out. He enlisted in a Jr'ennsylvania regiment, and served imtil the close
of the war, when he engaged in the mercantile business at Mahanoy
City, Pa., where he remained until 1878, when he removed to Kansas, and
located at Lawrence, for a short time, when he went to Humboldt and
engaged in farming. He was one of the successful farmers of Allen
county, and followed that vocation until his death, March 29, 1897. His
wife died, September 27, 1885. John Wesley Laury was educated in the
public schools of Pennsylvania and Union Seminary, New Berlin, Pa.
He began life as a traveling salesman with a line of tobacco and cigars.
After a year on the road, he became a clerk in his father's store, and was
engaged in various capacities in his native State until 1878, when he
came to Kansas, locating at Waterville. He remained there a short time
when he went to Allen county and settled on a farm, east of lola. Here
he engaged in farming and stock raising, in a small way, until 1885,
when he engaged in the butchering business. This enterprise proved a
success from the start, and he soon build up a large business. His busi-
ness extended over a large section. He continued in the meat business
until January, 191 1, when he assumed the duties of the office of register
of deeds to which he had been elected the preceeding fall. His sons
carried on the meat business about a year, when they disposd of it, and
engaged in farming and stock raising. Mr. Laury was reelected to the
office of register of deeds in 191 2, and is now serving in that capacity.
He is an efficient officer, and his courteous manner in serving the public
has won for him many friends. He was one of the organizers of the La
Harpe State Bank and has been vice-president of that institution since
its organization. This bank is capitalized at $10,000 and its business has
had a substantial growth since its doors were opened to the business
public. Mr. Laury was married May 16, 1882, to Miss Phoebe Alice,
daughter of William and Jane E. (Sparks) McCray, the former a native
of Iowa and the latter of Indiana. Tlic McCray family came to Kansas
in 1872, and located near Coyville, Wilson county. Mrs. Laury was born
in Iowa, and educated in the public schools, and taught school for a num-
ber of years before her marriage. She began teaching at the early age
of fourteen. To Mr. and Mrs. Laury have been born twelve children :
Lola Mariah. died in infancy; William Godfrey, a graduate of the Moran
High School and Baker University, married Phoebe Ellis, of Ottawa.
Kans.. and they have one child, Edna Marie; Charles McCray, a gradu-
ate of Moran High School and Baker University; Clara Olivia, a gradu-
ate of lola High School and Baker University; Ellen Rebecca, deceased;
John W. Jr., graduate of the lola High School and I?aker University,
now professor of science in the Montgomery County High School ; Emma
.Mice, a graduate of Baldwin High School, and now a student in Baker
Universitv; George Aldrich, was killed in a run away accident, July 11,
^98 BIOGRAPHICAL
1907 ; Raymond Hiiam, a graduate of the Ida High School ; Everett
Moses, a student in high school ; Ruth Jane, a student in the public
schools and Mary Evaline, died in infancy. The family are members of
the Methodist Episcopal church, of which Mr. Laury has been a steward
and trustee for a number of years. He is a charter member of the Moran
Lodge, Ancient Order of United \\'orkmen, and politically he is a Repub-
lican, and has been active in local politics for a number of years. He
has attended four State conventions as a delegate, and is a member of
the Republican County Central Committee.
James E. Matthews, a well-known farmer and stockman of Jackson
county, is a native of Illinois. He was born in Central county, Decem-
ber 16, 1864, and is a son of Adam T. Matthews, a native of Ireland, who
came to America at the age of twelve years, locating in Illinois, where he
spent his life as a farmer and stock raiser. He died in 1887. James E.
Matthews' mother died when he was a child, about two years old, and
about six years later, the family came to Kansas and settled near Win-
chester, Jeflferson county. Here the boy attended the district schools,
and worked on the farm with his father until he was twenty-one years
old when he began farming for himself. He removed to Wabaunsee
county and followed farming near Eskridge three years. He then went
to Topeka, where he was engaged in the grain and feed business for five
years ; when he again turned his attention to farming. He rented a farm
five miles south of Topeka, where he was engaged in the dairy business
about five years. He also owned a farm in Shawnee county, known as
the "Cloverdale farm," at that time. In 1901, he bought a section of
land in Wabaunsee county, near Vera, which he sold the following fall.
In 1909, he sold his Shawnee county farm at a handsome profit, when he
went to Jackson county and purchased the "Jerry Chub farm," near
Hoyt. This is considered one of the best improved farms in Jackson
county, and is his present home. He is engaged in general farming and
stock feeding, and does an extensive business. He prepares about 200
head of cattle and about the same number of hogs each year for the
market. His farm comprises 160 acres and is equipped with all modern
farm buildings and improvements including two silos with a capacity
of two hundred tons each. His barn is one of the largest and most
modern in the county. Mr. Matthews was married December 25, 1893,
to ]\Iiss Mary Ella Thompson, a native of Zanesville, Ohio. She is a
daughter of David and Elizabeth E. Thompson, also natives of Ohio.
The Thompson family came to Kansas in 1882, and settled near Win-
chester, Jefferson county, where the father was engaged in farming and
stock raising until his death, which occurred in September, 191 1. His
wife died in October of the same year. Mr. and Mrs. Matthews have
two children : Thomas Lee, born at Eskridge, Kans., now employed in
the general offices of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Com-
pany, at Topeka ; and Ester Hazel, born at Topeka, and resides at home
HIOGUAPllU AI. 299
witli her jiarents. Mr. Matthews' political views are Re])ublican. and he
is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, The family are
members of the Reformed Presl)yterian chnrch.
Richard Pierre Chevraux, who has faithfully and efficiently discharo;ed
the duties as Clerk <]f Harper county for the past nine years, is a native
of Starke county, ( )hio. He was born January 15, 1876, and is a son
of Louis and Fanny ( llreeson ) Chevraux. The father was a native of
France, and came to .America with his parents in 1853. They located in
Starke county, Ohio, on a farm adjoining the town of Louisville. Here
the parents spent their lives. The father died in 1894, aged eighty-
one, and the mother passed away in 1913. at the age of ninety-nine years
and nine months. The}' were the parents of seven children. Louis Chev-
raux farmed in Starke county, Ohio, until 1887, when he came to Kansas,
settling in Harper county. He bought land in Odell township, where he
was successfully engaged in farming and stock raising, until his death,
November 17, 1897. He was a Democrat and a member of the Catholic
church. His wife, Fanny Breeson, was born in Wayne county, Ohio,
November 2, 1849. ^h^ was a daughter of Peter and Malinda P>reeson,
natives of France. She died at Danville, Kans., January 15, 1905. Louis
and Fanny ( Rreeson) Chevraux were the parents of a large family, six
of whom are li\ing as follows: Joseph C. L., born April 21, 1873, now a
farmer in Canada; Mary A., born December 23, 1870, now the wife of
H. S. McDaniel, a farmer in Harper county; Richard P., the subject
'of this sketch; John J., born February 19, 1S81, farmer in Odell town-
ship. Harper county; Lucy L, born Decemlier 8, 1883, married .\lbert
Drouhard, a farmer in Odell township. Harper county, and Edith, born
January 25, 1884, married Michael Hemberger, a farmer in Odell town-
shij). Harper county. Richard P. Chevraux was about eleven years old
when his parents came to Kansas and here he attended tiie public schools
and was engaged on the farm, lie has always been a Republican, and
takes an active part in local politics, and in 1904, received the nomination
for county clerk, and was elected that fall, and is now serving his fifth
successive term. Mr. Chevrau.x has suffered the handicap of being crip-
pled since he was eleven years old, a condition which developed from a
severe case of the measles, and since that tiiue he has been unable to
walk without the aid of a crutch. He was married November 24. 1912, to
Miss Anna L. Gilbert, a native of Harper county, Kansas, born July 31,
1885. She is a daughter of P.yron N. and Jessie T. (Pennock) Gilbert, the
former a native of New York and the latter of Kansas. Mr. Chevraux has
won many friends by his courteous manner, during his career in |)nblic
life, and is ever ready to give the public the best possible service, which is
api)reciated by the citizens of Harjier county as evinced by his repeated
election to the office of county clerk.
William C. Alford, postmaster of Hazelton. Kans., is a native of
Tennessee, born in Rome county, September 12. 1848. He is a son of
Meshac T. and Rebecca (Edwards) Alford. The father was born in the
jOO BIOGRAPHICAL
same county and State, May 22, 1828. He was a Mexican war veteran,
and in early life removed to Illinois, where he followed farming until
his death, April 12, 1902. He was a successful farmer, a prominent
Mason, and a member of a Baptist church. His wife, Rebecca Edwards
to whom he was married in 1847, ^^'^s also a native of Rome county.
Tennessee. She was born in 1830, and died in 1862. They were the
parents of the following children : \\ illiam C., the subject of this sketch ;
Charles F. ; George W. ; Benjamin F. ; Samuel E. ; Robert E. ; Caleb C. ;
Sarah Jane, and Rebecca. William C. Alford was reared on his father's
farm in Illinois. His opportunities for an education in early life were
limited, but he acquired a habit of self study and thereby obtained a
good English education. He remained at home with his parents vmtil
1875, when he came to Kansas and located on government land in Sum-
ner county, seven miles south of Wellington. He remained there until
1884, when he removed to Barber county, locating where the town of
Hazelton now stands. He engaged in contracting and building and con-
structed some of the lirst buildings in the town of Hazelton. He bought
land quite extensively and engaged in the real estate business and pros-
pered. Mr. Alford is a Democrat and prominent in the local councils
of his party. He served as postmaster of Hazelton during the years
1887-8, and on January i, 1914, was appointed postmaster of Hazelton,
and is now serving in that capacity. He has served as clerk of the Hazel-
ton school board, continuously since 1884, and has held various other
local offices. Mr. Alford was married February 21, 1876, to Miss Ella
Hellwick. daughter of Rev. John W. Hellwick, of Palmyra, 111. Mrs.
Alford was born in \^ermilion county, Illinois, January 8, 1856. To
Mr. and Mrs. Alford have been born seven children : Belle, married J.
O. Webb ; Myrtle, married A. J. Ayres, Etta, married Fred L. Dicks ;
Benjamin F.. an attorney, Wichita Kans. ; Mary A., married Preston
Myers ; John T., Dodge City, Kahs., and W'illiam C. Jr., Hazleton, Kans.
Mr. Alford is a member of the Masonic lodge, and for seven years has
served as Worthy Master of Charity Lodge, A. F. & A. M., No. 263,
Hazelton. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Ellis Miller, now deceased, was a prominent citizen of Harper, Kans.
He was a native of Ohio, born at Liverpool, Medina county, March 15,
1850, a son of Anthony Lawrence and Catherine (Weber) Miller. The
father was a farmer and died in 1853 on board ship near Panama, while
on a voyage to California. His parents were both natives of Alsace,
France. Both grand parents were soldiers under Napoleon. The
mother died in 1903. The Weber family settled at Liverpool, Medina
county. Ohio, in 1831, and the Miller family located at Suffield, Portage
county, that State, about the same time. Ellis Miller was one of a family
of seven children, five of whom are now living: John B., Fruta, Calif.;
Odelia. the widow of J. N. Whetstone, Keokuk. Iowa ; Mar}', the widow
of G. M. Heller, Kahoka. Mo.; George. Hutchinson. Kans., and Anthony,
resides at Alameda, California. The Miller familv removed from Ohio
BIOGRAPHICAL 3OI
to Iowa, in 1842, and shortly after to Atliens, Mo., and here lUlis Miller
grew to manhood and was educated in the public schools, graduating
from the Athens High School. He then went to Louisiana where he
spent a few years on a sugar plantation and from there to Nevada, where
lie was engaged in gold mining and met with moderate success. He
returned to Athens, Mo., in 1875, and on March 16, of that year, he was
united in marriage to Miss !Marie Gray, a native of Missouri. She was a
daughter of Isaac P. and Eliza (Judgej Gray. The father was a native
of Kentucky, born October 10, 1825. He was a son of George \V. and
Nancy (Price) Gray, the former a native of Kentucky, and the latter of
South Carolina. Nancy Price, was a cousin of General Price, tlie well-
known Confederate general. He was a manufacturer in early life, and
lived for a time in Missouri and in 1868, removed to Iowa and died at
Croton, that State, November 12, 1893. The mother died at
Farmington. Iowa, December 16, 1912. Pier father was a Revolutionary
soldier, and at the time of her death there were only two or three other
daughters of Revolutionary soldiers living in the State of Iowa. In 1875,
Ellis Miller bought a farm in Montgomery county, Mo., where he was
successfully engaged in farming and stock raising fur nine years. The
present town of Bellfiower, Mo., is now located on the place that he
then owned. In 1884, he came to Kansas, locating in Harper county,
where he bought land three miles south of the town of Harper. Here
lie was engaged in farming and cattle raising on an extensive scale. He
was successful in his business undertakings, accumulating a competency
and in 1904, he retired and removed to Harper, where he resided luitil
his death, November i, 1907. To Mr. and Mrs. Miller were born three
children, one of whom died in infancy. The others are Arthu;- G., gradu-
ated from the Harper High School, in 181)4. He married Miss Flora
Essick, of Colorado Springs, Colo., and they have one child, .\rleta.
Arthur G. now resides in Harper county, and is engaged in farming.
Lena Miller was born in Montgomery county, Mo., and is a graduate
of the Harper High School. She married Henry C. Dryden, born in
Labette coimty, Kansas, and is a son of Henry C. and Frances ( I-'armer')
Dryden, who came to Kansas from Bates county. Mo., in 1869. 'i'hey
now reside at Chanute, Kans. Mr. Dryden is in the wholesale produce
business in Harper. Ellis Miller whose name introduces this sketch was
one of the sul)stantial citizens of Harper county, and made many friends
(hiring his life time. He was a life-long Democrat but never sought
public office. He was a member of the Methodist church to which he
was a generous contributor.
Benoni J. Dawson, of the firm of Dawson & Martlens. real estate
dealers, llnltdu. Kans.. is a native of Ohio. He was born in Columbiana
county, December 15, 1852, and is a son of Benoni and Margaret (Polick)
Dawson, natives of \'irginia. In early life the father was engaged in
boating on the Ohio river, but later engaged in farming, which he fol-
302 BIOGRAPHICAL
lowed until his death in 1875. The mother passed away in 1864. Benoni
J. Dawson, whose name introduces this review, received his education
in the public schools of Ohio, and when sixteen years of age, began life
for himself. He served an apprenticeship at the plasterer's trade at
Beaver Falls, Pa., where he remained until 1870, when he came to Kan-
sas, in February of that 3'ear, locating at W'amego. Here he entered the
employ of an uncle, who conducted a gun shop, and two years later the
uncle died, and -\lr. Dawson continued the business for five years. In
September, 1875, he entered the employ of the Kansas Pacific Railroad
Co., now Union Pacific, as brakeman, and in 1877, was promoted to
freight conductor, and in 188 1, became passenger conductor. He re-
mained in that capacity on that road, which was then a part of the
Union Pacific system, until 1893, when he entered the emploj' of the
Denver, Gulf & Colorado Southern, and resigned this position in 1894.
He ran the first passenger train into Belleville, Kans., November 27,
1884, and after retiring from railroading in 1895, he went to Belleville
and purchased the Hotel Republic, which he conducted about eighteen
months, when he went to Holton, and bought the Teer Hotel, where he
remained six years. In 1903. he went to Clay Center and opened the
Bonham Hotel, where he also remained six 3-ears, when he went to
Fairbtiry, Xeb., and in partnership with his son-in-law, Ross E. May,
engaged in the plumbing and heating business. He remained there un-
til February. 1910, when he disposed of his interest in the business and
returned to Holton, Kans., where he engaged in the real estate and in-
surance business, and in 191 1, entered into partnership with Mr. Mart-
lens, a sketch of whom appears in this volume. Mr. Dawson is also
extensively interested in farming and stock raising in Jackson county,
and has three farms, which he operates, in Jackson county He also
owns a farm in Logan and one in Grove county. He was married at
Wamego, September 23, 1877, to Miss Ada, daughter of Cornelius and
Elniira (Rushmore) Cummings, pioneers of Kansas, the former a native
of Penns3dvania, and the latter of Xew York. They came from Craw-
ford count}', Pennsylvania, to Kansas, in 1869, settling in Shawnee
county, and in 1875, removed to \\'amego, where the father engaged in
the hotel business. Mrs. Dawson was born in Crawford county, Penn-
syh-ania. and received her early education in the public schools, and
after coming to Kansas, attended the State Normal School at Emporia.
To Mr. and Mrs. Dawson have been born two children : Ina, married
Ross E. May, proprietor of the Bonham Hotel, at Clay Center, Kans.,
and they have one child, Ada Elizabeth ; and Jennie, married William F.
Keho, engaged in the plumbing and heating business at Superior, Neb.
Mrs. Dawson and daughters are members of the Episcopal church, and
Mr. Dawson belongs to the Masonic lodge. He is a progressive Repub-
lican, and line of the substantial business men of Jackson count}'.
James Meek, a successful farmer of Nemaha county, who is active in
the political life of Kansas, is a native of Ohio, born September 28, 1852.
BIOGRAPHICAI. 3O3
He is a son of Reason and Matilda (Mcllroy) Meek, also natives of
(Jliio, where the father was a farmer. On October 13, 1864, the Meek
family left their Ohio home, and started west. They made the trip in a
prairie schooner, the entire distance to ]^>lack Hawk county, Iowa. \\'in-
ler came on, unusually early that fall, and they met with bad weather
and considerable snow. The trip required six weeks. After spending
two winters in Iowa, they decided that the climate there was too rigor-
ous, and they decided to go south. In the spring of 1866, the\' went to
Xodaway county, Missouri. They settled on a farm there and both
parents spent the remainder of their lives in that county, the father
died in June, 1891, and the mother passed away the following year.
James Meek remained with his parents until he reached maturity. After
ciimpleting the district schools he attended high school at Maryville,
Mo., where he was graduated and later attended an academy. In early
life he taught school several terms, during the winters, while he followed
farming during the summers. During this time he also served as assist-
ant assessor of Xodaway county. In 1882. he came to Kansas, locating
in Xemaha county and settled on the farm which is now his home. He
first rented 80 acres, and bought a number of cattle, engaging quite
extensively in that business, it being quite profitable at that time on
account of so much free range, but the country settled up so rapidly
within the next few years that free range soon became a thing of the
past. The third year that he was in Kansas he bought eighty acres, and
since then had botight two additional eighties. He now has one of
the finest improved farms in Xemaha county. lie is one of the success-
ful farmers and stock raisers of Xorthern Kansas, and also an extensive
feeder, a business which he has followed since coming to the State.
He is also recognized as one of the successful breeders of Poland China
liogs in that section. He feeds about 125 head of cattle annually and
about 200 head of hogs. Since coming to the State, Mr. Meek has
taken an active interest in politics, and has ever been a staunch sup-
porter of the principles and policies of the Democratic party. Shortly
after coming to Kansas he was elected Justice of the Peace, and has
also served two terms as township trustee, and later was elected county
commissioner of Xemaha county, serving one term, and declined to
accept the nomination for the second term. In 1908, he was elected to
the State legislature from the Thirty-eighth District and was reelected
in 1910. He took an active part in the legislation of these two sessittns
and was recognized as a member of abilit\- in that body. He was the
author of House Hill, No. 519, relating to conveniences for persons
accom])anying live stock shipments, and was an earnest advocate of
many other desirable measures, many of which are now on the statute
books. During his membcrshi)") of the lower house he served as chair-
man of the Judicial .\i)portionment Committee, and as a member of
many other important committees. In 1912, he was elected to represent
304 iiincRArnicAL
the Eighteenth District in the Kansas senate, and served with chsliiiction '
in that body where he was active and influential. He was the author of
a number of bills among which were senate bills Nos. 132 and 324. and
he was one of the members of the Senate who made a hard fight for the
repeal of the inheritance tax which was in force at that time. Mr. Meek
is a capaljle parlimentarian. and he won a reputation for engineering
many desirable bills through the legislature, and it can be said of him
that he was an able, fearless and honest representative of the people in
both the lower house and the senate. Mr. Meek was united in marriage
July 3, 1879, to Miss Sarah A. Denny, a native of Nodaway county,
Missouri. She is a daughter of William and Margaret (.Storm) Denny,
natives of Indiana, who went to Missouri probably in the early fifties.
Mrs. Meek is a gradtiate of the Maryville High School, Maryville, Mo.
To Mr. and Mrs. Meek have been born eight children : Leslie Hay, was
for a time a teacher in Nemaha cotinty, now a banker at Mulhall, Okla. ;
Lois May, a former Nemaha county teacher, married Zephar Nolan and
now resides in Nemaha county; Reason A., in the employ of the railway
mail service, Kansas City ; Cassie Myrtle, married Tony Labbe, a farmer
of Nemaha county; William D.., deceased; one child died in infancy;
Samuel G., resides with his parents, and Margaret Blanche is also at
home. While Mr. Meek was a member of the house and senate his wife
acted as his secretar\' and was prominent in the aftairs at the capitol.
Mr. Meek is one of the public spirited citizens of his cotinty and willing
to support any movement for the betterment of his county or State.
His fraternal affiliations are with the Ancient Free and Accepted Ma-
sons, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and the Modern Wood-
men of America. The family are members of the Christian church of
which AFr, Meek is an elder.
William R. Guild. — The standing of William R. Guild, president of the
First National Bank of Hiawatha, as a private citizen and a man of
afifairs, is tmimpeachable throughout that section of the Sunflower State
which has been the scene of his activities. He is a native of Galva, 111.,
born in February, 1869. He is a son of the Rev. R. B.' and Susan
(Bergen) Guild and the fourth in a family of four sons and three daugh-
ters : George A., cashier of the Central National Bank of Topeka ; Harry
L.. cashier of the State Bank of Bern ; William R. ; Roy B., pastor of the
Central Congregational Church at Topeka, Kans., and a Chautauqua lec-
turer: Fanny G., the wife of the Rev. M. L. Laybourn. of Fort Morgan,
Col. ; Susan M., dean of Carroll College at Waukesha, Wis., and Jessie S..
a graduate of the Pratt .^.rt Institute in New York City, and now an in-
structor in the .Stanley Institute, Minneapolis, Minn.
A\'illiam R. Guild was reared at Galva until the age of eight and had
bare'ly entered the public schools when his father the Rev. R. B. Guild,
decided to remove to Kansas and take charge of the Congregational
cluu-ch at Seneca. But after two vears Reverend Guild decided to return
niOGKAlMIU AI, 305
to Illiimis, wIktc his children could be afforded better educational ad-
\anta,L;es. and remained in that State until 1881. when he again became a
resident of Kansas, taking charge of the Congregational church at Sterl-
ing, where he continued as a minister until his death, January i, 1889.
The mother was Susan Bergen, daughter of Mother Bergen, of Gales-
burg, 111., where Susan was born and reared. She survived the Rev. R.
B. Guild until August, 1908, when she passed away in Sabetha, Kans.
William R. Guild received his preliminary education in the public schools
of Sterling, Kans., until I he age of nineteen, when he accepted a position
as boc^kkeeper in the National Bank of Sabetha. He started in on a
salary of $10 per nmnth, out of which he had to pay his board. He
accepted that position in the fall of 1888, and remained with the bank
until i8go, when he was tendered the position of bookkeeper in the Cen-
tral National P>ank of Topeka, accepted the position, and remained with
that institution three years, until 1893. He then became cashier of the
State Bank of Bern, at Bern, Kans., where he remained thirteen years,
during which time he not only placed the bank on a paying basis but also
developed those qualities in a marked degree which are so essential to
successful banking. In 1906, he removed to Sabetha and at once entered
actively into the commercial life of the community. For about eighteen
months after his location there he was actively engaged in the real
estate, loan, and insurance business. Then he accepted the position of
cashier of tiie National Bank of Sabetha, and held that position until Janu-
ary I, 1914, when he bought a substantial interest in the First National
Hank of Hiawatha, Kans., and was elected president of that institution,
which position he now holds. He was the first mayor of Sabetha under
the commission form, and was president of the Sabetha Commercial
Club for six years. He also takes an active interest in church and Sun-
day school work, having been a trustee and treasurer of the Congrega-
tional church fnr a number of years, as well as superintendent of the
Sunday school. Politically he is a Republican, and fraternally he is a
Mason, a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, the Knights of
Pythias, and tlie Pliawatha Commercial Club.
Tn 18992, Mr. Guild married Miss Augusta Holland, of Sabetha, and
this union is blessed with a daughter, Helen, now a senior in Wash-
burn College, Topeka. The familv arc all mcmlicrs of the Congregational
church.
Wilber L. Hutchinson, one f)f tlie i^roprietors of the "Bulletin," of
.\nthuny, was born iJeccmber 30, 1864, at Griggsville, TIL, the second
son of Samuel and Sarah Elizabeth (Jones) Hutchinson. The father was
born in England in 1812. and came to the United States with his parents
when a small' l)ov. lie lived in Boston. Mass., until 1833. where his
father was city undertaker and a cabinet maker, and where he learned the
same business. Tn 1833, Samuel Hutchinson removed to Griggsville,
111., where he built a large factory fur the manufacture of agricultural
306 BIOGRAPHICAL
implements. He was the patentee of four different agricultural imple-
ments, and placed on the market the first gang plow ever made and sold
in Illinois. He was successful in this line, and retired in 1880, living in
Griggsville until his death which occurred in 1904. He belonged to
the Methodist Episcopal church. He was married three times. His first
wife was Abigail Winchester, whom he married in Philadelphia in 1840.
She was a sister of Oliver Winchester, inventor of the Winchester rifle.
She died in 1847. Three children were born of this first union — one son
and two daughters : James W., born in 1842, was educated at the United
States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md. He was commissioned as an
officer in the navy and participated in the bombardment and capture of
Fort Fisher in the early part of the Civil war. He retired from the
United States naval service in 1864, and for a few years was a mineral
surveyor in Colorado. At the time of his death in 1883, he was engaged
in the banking business at Greenfield, 111. He was past grand com-
mander of the Knights Templars of Illinois; Caroline, deceased, was
born in 1844, and Ella M., born in 1846, the wife of Dr. Battles, of Griggs-
ville, 111. His second wife, whose maiden name was Edwards, died about
1850. He married Sarah E. Jones, as his third wife, in 1859, at Jackson-
ville, 111. She was born in 1832, at Memphis, Tenn., and died in March,
1888, at Griggsville, 111. She was of Welsh ancestry. Two children were
born of this third unicm — a son and daughter: Wilber L., who is the
eldest, and Irene, born in 1868, died in 1881.
\\'ilber L. Hutchinson was educated in the public schools of Griggs-
ville, 111., and began to learn the printer's trade at the age of eleven years.
He worked four years in the office of the "Reflector" at Griggsville, then
leaving home he worked in dift'erent States until 1883, when he came to
Kansas. In 1885-86, he was manager of a weekly paper at Abilene. In
1887, he removed to Anthony, becoming one of the publishers of the
"Harper County Enterprise" in which he remained interested until 1892,
when the name of the paper was changed to the "Anthony Bulletin."
The plant was burned in 1893, but was replaced with a more modern
equijiment without the paper missing a single issue. In 1898, the pub-
lication of the "Bulletin" was suspended and Mr. Hutchinson enlisted in
Company M, Twentieth Kansas infantry, entering the army at Salina,
Kans., June 16, 1898. He went with his company at once to San Fran-
cisco, and in October of the same year his regiment was ordered to ser-
vice in the Philippines. His transport sailed October 28, and stopping
four days in Honolulu, H. I., landed at Manila, November 17. His com-
pany was assigned to police duty in Manila until February 4, 1899, when
the Philippine insurrection broke out. He was with his regiment, under
Col. Frederick Funston in the thick of the battle of Manila, February 4-
5-6, 1899; Caloocan, February 10; defense of Caloocan, February 11 to
March 24; battle of Tulajan river, March 25; Polo and Malinta, March
26; Marilao, March 27; outpost skirmish, March 28; Bocave, March 29;
BIOGRAPHICAL 307
Guiguinto, March 29; advance on AFalolos, March 30-31; defense of the
same town April i to 24; Rio Grande, April 26-27; Santa Tomas, May
4; Bacalor, May 24. This concluded his field service in the interior. In
June his company with others of the regiment was assigned to guard duty
at Bilibib prison. About Atigust i, he was taken ill with typhoid fever
and acute dysentery and was confined to the hospital two months on
Corregidor Island, during which time his regiment had been returned
to San Francisco. In the latter part of October he became able to travel
and sailed for the United States on the transport Warren via Japan and
the Japan Island sea. He received an honorable discharge at San Francisco
in the latter part of November, 1899. He at once returned to Anthony,
Kans., and set about to reestablish his old paper, the "Bulletin," buying
modern machinery for the purpose. It is now published under the firm
name of "Hutchinson & McColloch" and is one of the brightest and most
influential weekly papers in Kansas, owning its own modern building,
erected expressly for a newspaper office. Mr. Hutchinson was married
September 18, 1902, to Miss Euphie Croft, daughter of Samuel M. Croft,
a successful farmer and cattle raiser of Harper. She was born September
12, 1881, at Henry, 111., and was a successful teacher in the Anthony
schools for two years before her marriage. They have two children —
W'ilber Buy, born October 28, 1904, and Samuel Croft, born July 5, 1909.
Mr. Hutchinson is a Mason, and historian of the Wichita camp of United
Sjiaiiish \\'ar \'eterans.
Robert P. McColloch. — The McColloch family is of Scotch origin and
is mentioned in the early annals of Scotland and in the writings of Sir
Walter Scott. It is identified with the early history of the Virginia
colony, with the American war of Revolution, with the Indian wars,
succeeding the Revolution, with the history of the territory of Ohio — a
member of the family being the first white child born in that territory —
and with the early history of the State of Ohio.
Robert P. McColloch was born at Bellefontaine, Logan county, Ohio,
and is a son of William McColloch and Nancy (Robb) McColloch, both
now deceased. The father was, during his lifetime, a merchant, and was
one of the first of the merchants of Bellefontaine. He held many posi-
tions of trust and honor in the city and county and was for many years,
and until his death, a ruling elder in the Presbyterian church of Belle-
fontaine. He was educated in the schools of the town, graduated from
the high school and continued his studies at Wittenberg College, Spring-
field, Ohio, where he w^as a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He
read law in the office of McLaughlin & Dow, at Bellefontaine, and having
])assed the examinations before the committee of the supreme court of
the State, was ofifercd and accepted a partnership in that firm. One of his
])receptors was the Hon. Duncan Dow, author of the Dow liquor law
of Ohio, and a man eminent in his profession. \\'hile reading law he was
elected a clerk of Bellefontaine and served in that capacity two terms. ,
308 BIOGRAPHICAL
In June. 1887, Mr. McCoUoch removed from Ohio to Anthony, Harper
tried in the district court of Harper county and having business in sixty-
ful, doing a large business and appearing in manj- of the impovtant cases
county, Kansas. There he practiced his profession and was very success-
five of the other judicial districts of the State and in the courts of appeal
and the supreme court of the State. His residence has been at Anthony
continuously, except for two years in \Vichita, where he was editor and
part owner of the "Wichita Star." In 1896, Mr. McColloch was the
Republican presidential elector for the Seventh Congressional district,
Kansas. In 1898, he was elected county attorney of Harper county, and
held that office for two terms, being the only Republican in office in the
county for a greater part of that time. He has always been an active
worker in the Republican party. Before reaching his majority he was
making speeches, in Ohio, under the direction of the State Republican
committee, and since locating in Kansas has taken an active part in the
speaking campaigns in the count)' and State. Since coming to Kansas
he has delivered an address on Decoration Day at some point in the
State, every year, except five. He is regarded as one of the best of the
Kansas orators and is in demand for addresses on Decoration Day, at
high school and college commencements, and other occasions. During
all the time that he has practiced law in Ohio and Kansas, Mr. McCol-
loch has been a contributor to the local press and to many of the Eastern
and Middle West dailies, besides writing for some of the periodicals and
magazines of the East and \\'est. So strong was the desire to enter the
field of journalism that he finall}' determined to give more of his time to
that and less to the practice of the law. Since 1907. he has been asso-
ciated with the '"Anthony Bulletin." In September, 1909, he purchased
a half interest in the Bulletin Printing House, owned then by W. L.
Hutchinson, and he and Mr. Hutchinson now carry on the job printing
business and publish the "Anthony Bulletin," under the firm name of
"The Bulletin Printing House." Mr. McColloch recently erected a brick
and stone building in the center of the business section of the city of
.\nthony for the exclusive use of the printing plant.
Mr. McColloch is happily married, his wife being a graduate of Glen-
dale College, Cincinnati, Ohio. Mrs. McColloch's father was the late
James ^^^alker. many years mayor of Bcllefontaine. Ohio, United States
district collector of revenue under Abraham Lincoln, a lawyer of marked
ability, a partner for more than forty years, and until his death, of Judge
William H. West, "the blind man eloquent," of Ohio. Mr. and Mrs.
McColloch have one son, James ^^'alker, a graduate of the Kansas State
Agricultural College, at Manhattan, with the degree of Bachelor of Sci-
ence, and is employed by that institution as an instructor, and also as an
assistant in the department of entomology.
John Martin, a Civil war veteran and prominent farmer and stockman
of Ccntralia, Kans., is a native of Prussia. He was reared and educated
BIOGRAPHICAL 309
in his native land, where, at the age of fourteen, he became a farm
laborer and continued in that employment until he reached the age of
twenty, when he decided to immigrate to America, the land of oppor-
tunity. After coming to this country', he located at St. Lotiis, Mo.,
where he remained for a short time when he secured employment on a
farm in St. Charles county, Missouri, where lie worked for twelve dol-
lars a month during the harvest season, and the other months of the
year he received eight dollars per month. His employer was a fellow
countryman, and young Martin decided that if he remained in his
employ he would never learn to speak the English language. He accord-
ingly got a position with an English speaking farmer and soon learned to
speak the English language very fluently. During the time that he was
employed on the farm he became a member of a local militia company
which was organized to protect railroads and bridges from the Confed-
erate raids which were frequent at that time. In September, 1862. he
enlisted in Company B, Thirty-fourth Regiment, Missouri infantry, and
about two months later was transferred to Company K, Thirtieth Regi-
ment, Missouri infantry. He was with his regiment at Columbus, Ky.,
and Memphis, Tenn.. and later participated in the siege of Vicksburg.
In the spring of 1863, he was taken sick and spent six months in an
army hospital at Memphis, after which he was detailed as orderly to
Lieut. Col. George T. Allen, Inspector of Hospitals. Mr. Martin re-
mained in this service until October, 1865, when he received his dis-
charge at St. Louis, Mo. At the close of the war he worked for a time
in Cairo, 111., unloading river boats. He then went to Omaha, Nebr.,
expecting to obtain employment on the Union Pacific railroad, which
was then in course of construction, and tinally secured work as a team-
ster, hauling ties in Iowa, and later got a job moving a saw mill to
Laramie, \\'yo., a distance of about 350 miles, and worked for the own-
ers of this mill getting out bridge timber for the Union Pacific until
February, 1868. He then returned to Cheyenne, W'yo., which was the
terminus of the Union Pacific railroad. He bought a team here and re-
turned to Laramie. Here he received as high as $20 ])er day, l)ut grain
for his team cost twenty cents a pound and hay forty dollars a ton. and
most of his income went for the high cost of living. He then went to
Green River, where he worked on the grade of the Union Pacific Rail-
road, and after going as far West as Nevada, he sold his team and
returned to Omaha, and in December, 1869, came to Kansas and took a
homestead near Ccntralia. in Home township. Here he bought two
yokes of oxen and engaged in farming. During the year of 1872, his
crops were destroyed by jirairie fire and he sold his homestead and
worked at odd jobs and fed cattle for local men, and the following
year engaged in the cattle business for himself. This was in the days
of open range and cattle had to be herded in Trontier style. In 1879, he
bought 120 acres where he now resides. He engaged extensively in
3IO BIOGRAPHICAL
the cattle business and bought and fed a great many cattle for himself,
as well as being buyer for Mr. Rankin, the Missouri cattle King. He
bought more land from time to time and now owns 639 acres of pro-
ductive land. He has been one of the extensive cattle men of northern
Kansas and is considered the largest stock feeder in that section. His
business averages about $20,000 yearly, but the last few years he has
not been pushing his business as hard as in former times. He has
accumulated a comfortable fortune and does business now by force of
habit and for pastime. He is one of the substantial men of Nemaha
county. His genial good humor has won for him a host of friends, and
he is probably one of the best known men in the county. He is a
director of the Citizens Bank of Centralia, a member of the Grand Army
of the Republic, and politically is a Republican.
Frank L. Travis, who for a number of years has been active in the
affairs of ^Allen county, is a native of the Empire State. He was born
at Newburg, N. Y., July 28, 1868, and is a son of Henry F. and Elizabeth
(Malcolm) Travis, both natives of New York State. The father was
engaged in the mercantile business in his native State until 1877, when
he came to Kansas City, Mo., and followed contracting and building
about two years. April 14, 1879, he removed to Kansas and settled on a
farm in Allen county, five miles east of lola. Frank L. Travis began
his education in the public schools of Newburg, N. Y., his first teacher
having been his father's teacher also. After the family came west he
attended school in Kansas City and the Tola High School. He then
engaged in farming for a few years, and in 1892, was elected clerk
of the district court of Allen county, and reelected to that office in
1894. \\'hile district clerk he read law, but has never engaged in the
l)ractice. In 1897, at the expiration of his term of office, he engaged in
the insurance business at lola. in partnership with R. H. Bennett,
under the firm name of Bennett & Travis. This arrangement continued
about two years when the partnership was dissolved. Mr. Travis oper-
ated alone until 1900, when he formed a partnership with Frank E.
Smith, and this firm has been successfully engaged in the insurance
business to the present time, and are one of the largest agencies in
Kansas. They represent many of the leading fire, life, and casualty
companies. Mr. Travis was manager of the Missouri Fidelity and
Security Company, for Kansas three years, and is now the manager for
Kansas of the Southern Security Company, of St. Louis, Mo. In 1911,
he was appointed receiver for the Great \\'estern Portland Cement
Company by Judge Pollock, and later was trustee in bankruptcy for
that corporation, and closed up the business to the satisfaction of all
concerned. Mr. Travis is owner and proprietor of the Travis Drug Co.,
of Blue Mound, Kans., and is also interested in the Osborne Process
Liquid Carbonic Company, of Kansas City, Mo., and is a director in the
State Savings Bank, of lola, Kans. In 1908, he was elected State
BIOGRAPIIICAr. 3 I I
senator from tlie Fourteenth District and served in the Sixteenth and
Seventeenth sessions of tlie Legislature. While a member of that body-
he was active and influential in legislation and introduced several im-
portant measures which became laws, among which was the Wife
Abandonment I!ill. lie was a member of the committee on Cities, of
the Second and Third class, Commerce, Corporations, Labor, Manufac-
turing and Industrial pursuits, Military affairs, Oil and Gas, Rules,
and was chairman of the committee on insurance. He was a staunch
supporter of the Compensation Act, which became a law. and it so
happened that his was the one necessary vote which carried the submis-
sion of the Women's Equal Suffrage Amendment. He was the last of
the thirty-nine senators to vote, and when his name was called the vote
stood twenty-six for, and twelve against, and when his vote was recorded
in favor of the amendment that gave the necessary two-thirds majority.
Mr. Travis has been a life-long Republican and has taken an active
interest in the affairs of his party. He has served as a delegate to con-
gressional and State conventions and has been secretary of the County
Central Committee, and been secretary of the Congressional and Judicial
Committee. He was married June 24, 1905, to Miss Anna Belle Mc-
Donald, daughter of John ;\L and Lavina (Anderson) McDonald. John
AL McDonald was a Kansas pioneer, coming to this State and settling
in Allen county in 1857. He died June 2, 1910. Mrs. Travis was born
on a farm near lola, and educated in the public schools. Mr. Travis is
second lieutenant in the First Regiment, Kansas National Guard, and
is a Knights Templar Mason, and a member of the Knights of Pythias;
the Ancient Order of United Workmen ; the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks, and the Military Order of The Loyal Legion. Mrs.
Travis is a member of the Eastern Star, and Mr. and Mrs. Travis are
members of the Episcopal church of which he is vestryman.
Francois Oliver, Sr., of Danville, is a prominent representative of the
successful Kansas agriculturist. He is a native of France, and was
brought to America by his parents when six years old. He was born
October ii, 1S42. and is a son of .Alexander and Barbara (Mercier)
Oliver, bolh natives ni France, who came to America in 1848, locating in
Wayne county, Ohio, where the father was a successful farmer. He
died in Holmes county, Ohio, September 3, 1883. Francois Oliver was
one of a family of six children. He attended a I'rench Catholic school
in Holmes county, Ohio, until he was sixteen }ears old and then entered
an English school, where he learned to speak the English language and
received a very good general, education. W^hen twenty-five years of
age, he engaged in farming in Ohio, where he remained until 1884, when
he came to Harper county, Kansas, and bought unimi)rovcd land in
Odell townshiji, in which he invested $4,200.00 which he lirought with
him. He still f)wns this place and has bought additional land from lime
to time until he now owns 2,800 acres, all under cultivation and well
312 BIOGRArillCAl.
improved with good buildings. In i(;o6, he bought 600 acres of prairie
land, for which he paid $25,600.00. He broke this and planted it in
wheat and the proceeds from the lirst crop nearly paid for the land, the
yield being appro.ximately 26,000 bushels. In addition to his extensive
farming operations, he has been a successful breeder of pure blood
Poland China swine. He was engaged in this business in Ohio, before
coming to Kansas, and since coming to this State has sold for breeding
purposes about 2,000 head of Poland China swine. In 1914, he entered
twenty head at both the Kansas and Oklahoma State fairs and took
twenty-eight premiums. His male hog "Smuggler," whose pedigree is
traced back seven generations, all prize winners, won the grand cham-
pionship at the Oklahoma and Kansas State fairs for three consecutive
years, four States being represented in the exhibition contest. This is
undoubtedly the most valuable hog in the west. Mr. Oliver was united
in marriage November 15, 1866, to Miss Marie Blanchard, and to this
union have been born twelve children : Frank L., born September 4.
1867; Mary M., born July 22, 1869; Louis L., born October 5, 1871 ;
Harry J., born March 30, 1874; George A., born October 20. 1876; Paul
P., born January 24, 1879; Katherine M., born ^lay 7, 1881 ; Laura M.,
Ijorn September i. 1883; Lawrence L., born November 19, 1885; Louis
L., born November 3, 1888; Francis A., born ]\Iarch 24, 1892, and Joseph
H., born May 31, 1891. The family are members of the Catholic church,
and are well and favorably known in Harper county.
John W. Atwater, a representative citizen of Jackson county is a native
of Ohio. lie was born at Huron, Erie county, November 18, 1869. a son
of John and Patience (Peck) Atwater, the former a native of Ohio and
the latter of Vermont. The father was a farmer and stockman, and in
1884, the family came to Kansas and settled on a farm near Netawaka,
Jackson county. John W. Atwater was educated in the public schools.
He was engaged in farming with his father until 1897, when he was
elected county clerk and removed to Holton when he assumed the duties
of. that office. He was re-elected in 1899, and on account of a revision
of the election laws held the office five years in all. At the expiration of
his term in January, 1903, Mr. Atwater engaged in the land business at
Holton, in which he was very successful and did an extensive business.
He sold a great deal of Oklahoma land as well as doing a large local busi-
ness. For the last three years he has also been engaged in farming and
stock raising, making a specialty of pure-bred Herefords. In 1912, he
became interested in The State Bank of Holton, and is now secretary of
the board of directors of that institution. He is a Republican and has
taken an active part in local and State politics. He has served as a mem-
ber of the Republican County Central Committee and has frequently
been a delegate at judicial, congressional and State conventions. Mr.
Atwater was united in marriage December 25. 1902, to Miss Bessie E.
Dixon, daughter of William F. and Rebecca (Washburn) Dixon, natives
BIOGRAPIIKAI. 313
of Ohio, where tlic fatlicr was engaged in farming and fruil growing.
The Dixon faniil\- came to Kansas in 1872, and first settled in Brown
county, and removed from there to Sedgwick county where they remained
for a time when they removed to Netawaka where the parents now reside.
Mrs. Atwater was born at Netawaka, Kans., January 20, 1882. She was
educated in the Netawaka schools and taught school for a time prior to
her marriage. To Mr. and Mrs. .\twater have been born two children:
I'^rancis, born September 21, 1905, and John W. Jr., born Februar}' 28,
1913. The great bereavement of Mr. Atawter's life came to him in the
death of his faithful and loving wife, who departed this life March 4, 1913.
Lycurgus L. Elledge, a well-known and highly respected citizen of
Denison, Kans., is a native of Iowa. He was born in Fremont county,
March 18, 1867, and is a son of Frank and Alartha (Ramsay) Elledge, the
former a native of Illinois and the latter of Missouri. The father was a
farmer and stock dealer, and at an early day, removed to Hitchcock
County, Nebraska, where he was engaged in farming and stock raising
several years. The mother died at Culverson, Neb., in 1881. Lycurgus
L. Elledge received his early educational discipline in the public schools,
and when a young man engaged in railroad work, in the bridge construc-
tion department. He began as laborer, and later became foreman. In
1884, he came to Kansas, and entered the employ of the Kansas Central
Railroad Company, and remained in their employ about five years, when
he went with the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company, and for about eight
years had charge of the bridge construction, building most of the bridges
along the K. C. N. W. in Kansas. He remained with that company until
January, 1899, when he removed to Denison, Kans., where he has since
resided. While following railroad work he had saved enough out of his
earnings to buy a farm in Jackson county, and since then has invested
e.\tensi\'ely in farm mortgages, and is a stock holder in the Ilolton State
liank of Holton, Kans. He was married April 6, 1898, to Miss Jennie
Hradshaw, of Jackson county, and a native of Missouri. She died in
November, 1904, at Denison, Kans. She was a daughter of B. II. Hrad-
shaw, a Jackson county pioneer, who became an extensive breeder of
thorough-bred cattle and horses. In October, 1903, Mr. I'llledgc married
Miss Lucretia A. Bradshaw, a sister of his first wife. Mr. and Mrs. F.ll-
cdgc arc members of the Church of God.
Edward R. Sloan, a ])rominent Jackson county attorney, was born in
.Seward county. Nebraska, March 12, 1883. He is a son of G. \\'. and
ilanna J. (McClough) Sloan, the former a native of Pennsylvania and
the latter of Illinois. In 1886, the famil\- came to Kansas, locating in
SluTidan county, wdiere the father was engaged in farming and stock
raising and here Edward R. began his education in the jjublic schools
and later attended the Kansas State Agricultural College of Manhattan,
one year, lie then entered Campbell Cni\'ersily at Holton. where he
sttidied law two years, graduating in liie class of 1934. lie then took
314 BIOGRAPHICAL
a course in the law department of Washburn College, where he received
the degree of Doctor of Laws in 1905. He was admitted to the bar of
Kansas. June 22. IQ05. He was elected county attorney of Sheridan
county in the fall of 1904, and was re-elected to that office twice, serving
six years. In July, 191 1, the law firm of Hursh & Sloan was formed, and
they have since been engaged in the practice at Holton, Kans. They have
built up a large practice and rank among the leading lawyers of Northerr
Kansas. In April, 1912, Mr. Sloan was appointed city attorney of Holton,
and is now serving in that capacity. He was married January 24, 1906,
to Miss Julia L., daughter of Ira and Emily E. (DeLong) Wright,
natives of Illinois. They came to Kansas in 1898, where the father en-
gaged in farming and stock raising. Mrs. Sloan was born in Fillmore
county,